Here is why Lucknow Defence Expo 2020 will be bigger than ever!

Lucknow: Sunday evening the defence minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did a joint press conference to list down the reasons why Lucknow Defence Expo 2020 is going to be the bigger than ever since its inception. Bigger in the area it is going to be organised at, bigger in the number of exhibitors both foreign and domestic, and bigger in terms of revenue it is going to earn.
Earlier in the day, the defence minister reviewed the ongoing preparations for the Lucknow Defence Expo 2020 along with CM Yogi and defence secretary Ajay Kumar, special secretary (defence production) Barun Mitra, additional chief secretary, UP, Awanish Kumar Awasthi, joint secretary, ministry of defence, Chandrakar Bharti.

'Better in area, exhibitors and revenue'

The Lucknow Defence Expo 2020 will be inaugurated on February 5 by Prime Minister Modi. This time the theme of the biennial event will be 'India: The emerging defence manufacturing hub' with focus on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’.

Addressing the press in Lucknow CM Yogi said that "the Defence Expo will be a historic event for Uttar Pradesh and the state will soon become an important destination for defence equipment as well as aerospace manufacturing".

The Chennai Defence Expo that was held in 2018 was organised at around 80-acre area whereas the Lucknow Defence Expo 2020 will be organised over a 200-acre area. In the earlier edition, the number was exhibitors was far less. While a total of 702 exhibitors had participated in 2018 this year the number of exhibitors has swelled up to 925. The numbers include around a 150 Foreign Orginal Equipment Manufacturers (FOEMs). Registered for participation is still on, Singh said.

MoUs and Foreign Orginal Equipment Manufacturers

The defence ministers, the ambassadors, army chiefs and defence attaches of 25 countries will participate in the programme, he said.

Singh said while 40 MoUs were signed with various defence equipment manufacturing companies in Chennai, 65 MoUs will be signed with the Indian and foreign defence companies at the Lucknow expo.

The invitation for the DefExpo was extended to 135 countries and 70 countries confirmed their participation, he added.

International Roadshows to promote the DefExpo 2020

Top defence manufacturers from the United States, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and the Czech Republic are likely to participate in the Defence Expo.

"Digital transformation in the aerospace and defence sector will be the central theme of Defence Expo-2020. It will focus on bringing to the forefront of the digital advances in the industry and provide a platform for drivers of such transformation to come together", the minister said.

To woo defence manufacturers, the government had organised roadshows in eight countries as well as across the country.