India in Berlin Air Show as a partner country in Defence for the first time

The Defence Minister AK Antony leaves New Delhi on Sunday, on a three-day visit to Germany. Accompanied by a high-level official delegation, Antony will attend the International Aerospace Exhibition and Conferences – ILA 2008, popularly known as Berlin Air Show and will hold talks with his German counterpart Dr. Franz Josef Jung.
Germany’s Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel will open the Air Show on 27 May during a 90-minute tour of the event. She will be accompanied by Antony, Michael Glos, Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, Matthias Platzeck, Minister President of the Land Brandenburg, Harald Wolf, Mayor of Berlin and Senator for Economics, Technology and Women, and Jürgen Thumann, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).
The Air Show provides an ideal platform for exploring business opportunities and joint ventures. A large number of Indian companies – both public and private and Defence Organisations will showcase their defence related capabilities and products at the Show. The composite India Pavilion covering 1200 sq meters will witness the participation of five Defence Public Sector Undertakings namely Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI); the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and five private defence industries – TATA group of companies, Larsen & Toubro, CADES, ACCORD Software & Systems , Saraswati Dynamics. Indicative of the importance being attached to India, a seminar on “Opportunities in the Indian Defence Sector” will be held on 28 May . The SARANG team of Indian Air Force will give a scintillating display of aerobatics with their helicopters. The Air Warriors Symphony Orchestra will also perform at Berlin Air Show.
In a message to the organizers of the show, Antony said, India’s participation marks another milestone in our cooperation with leading countries and global firms in the aviation and aerospace sector. He said, a strong industrial base, sophisticated Research and Development institutions and a huge domestic market have resulted in a fast growing aviation sector in India. This provides new opportunities for cooperation and strategic alliances between domestic and international partners. ‘India is harnessing its indigenously developed civilian space technologies as a key multiplier for development’, Antony said.
The delegation to accompany the Defence Minister includes Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Secretary Defence Production Pradeep Kumar, DG Acquisition SK Sharma, Advisor to Defence Minister Sundaram Krishna, Additional Secretary Defence Production Ajoy Acharya, Joint Secretary (Exports) Satyajit Rajan besides representatives of DPSUs. Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh will also be attending the Berlin Air Show from May 28.
23/05/08 Press Information Bureau

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