KARACHI, Sept 9: Delivery of 20 Super Mashak aircraft to Saudi Arabia will commence towards the end of this year. This was stated by Maj-Gen Syed Ali Hamid, director-general of the Defence Export Promotion Organization (DEPO) , at a news conference held to announce the programme and objectives of the four-day extravaganza of military hardware, Ideas 2004.

Gen Hamid did not give the total amount of the deal with Saudi Arabia which also includes maintenance clause, but said it would go a long way in boosting export of the aircraft manufactured by the PAC Kamra.

The PAC Kamra has already sold 10 of these aircraft to Oman and five to Iran. A deal for the sale of five such aircraft to a South African firm will be signed during the Ideas 2004 exhibition.

Gen Hamid pointed out that being a new player in the rapidly expanding defence market, Pakistan exported anti-tank guided missiles to Malaysia, and Mashak trainer aircraft to many other Muslim states.

Ideas 2004, the third biannual display of military hardware in the city, would commence with an international seminar on the "Changing global security environment" on Sept 13. It will be inaugurated by Defence Minister Rao Sikander Iqbal. Prominent scholars from the UK, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sweden and Pakistan will participate.

The same day, the exhibition will be inaugurated at the Expo Centre and for the next three days 45 official delegations from 35 countries would visit the exhibition which has been described as a 'shop window'.

He said that it would provide a big display opportunity to the country's indigenous defence technology and foreign arms manufacturers. Gen Hamid said that since the introduction of Pakistan's defence industry at Ideas 2002 in the metropolis, defence exports of the country had doubled from $40 million to $100 million - mostly from public sector. He said that the local private sector was also producing some quality products and was strong in downstream industries.

Pakistan, he said, would like to find buyer for its "big ticket" items like Al Khalid tanks which was handed over to Pakistan army this year, Baktarshikan anti-tank missiles and Al Zarrar tanks, etc.

During the exhibition, Special Services Group of the Pakistan army would give a demonstration of anti-terrorist training while on the concluding day a flying display of Super Mashak and Karakoram-8 trainer aircraft would be held together with firepower demo of some of the new Pakistani products.

Maj-Gen Hamid said that elaborate security measures had been taken for the protection of the large number of foreign visitors. When asked why had Karachi been selected for the exhibition when there were concerns about law and order problem, the DEPO director-general said the first reason was that Karachi was the heart of commercial activity.

Logistically also, he added, it was the first choice because there was no place in Pakistan which had so much of airconditioned halls and space. All the three services are well represented here. Nowhere else in the country one can find such a broad-based five star hotels and facilities to cater for five or six thousand people.