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Gujarat to host 12th Defence Expo in 2022

Review meeting regarding Defence Expo-2022 preparations held with senior officers by Union Defence Minister and Gujarat CM at Kevadia

Gujarat CM

• Thanking the PM and union defence minister for organizing Defence Expo-2022 in Gujarat
• Gujarat has infrastructure and facilities required for Defence Equipment productions
• Dholera SIR has high potential to become best location for Defence Equipment production unit

Union Defence Minister :-

• We aim for “Make in India-Make for the world”
• India soon to become Global Defence manufacturing hub
• All effort will be put to increase national and international participation in Defence Expo-2022

Gandhinagar, Thursday: Gujarat will host the 12th edition of the Defence Expo to be organized in 2022, which is held every two years by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

The expo will be held in Gandhinagar by the Defence Production Department of the Ministry of Defence from March 10 to 13, 2022.

A review meeting on the well-organized planning of this Defence Expo-2022 in Gujarat was held at Kevadia in presence of Union Defence Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Mr. Vijay Rupani.

The MoU on full cooperation and facilities of the State Government in the planning of this Defence Expo-2022 was also signed by the Joint Secretary of the Defence Production Department of the Ministry of Defence and the Industry Commissioner of Gujarat in the presence of the Union Defence Minister and the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

CM said in the meeting that the initiative of organizing such defence expos in different states of the country with inspiration from the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and guidance from the defence minister is commendable. He further thanked the Prime Minister and the defence minister for selecting Gujarat to organize the next Defence Expo-2022.

CM expressed his confidence that the way Gujarat has become the best choice for investment for investors around the world by successfully organizing the Vibrant Summit, Gujarat will become the state with highest investment in defence sector, too, in the country through organizing Defence Expo-2022.

CM said that Gujarat has formulated its own defence and aerospace policy. Not only that, under this policy, incentives like exemption from stamp duty in purchase of land for defence equipment production units, exemption from electricity duty for five years from the commencement of production are also given in Gujarat.

CM added that Gujarat has the infrastructure and facilities required for defence equipment production. Dholera SIR has potential to become the best location for Defence Equipment Production Units. An airport with a wide runway is under construction here and the land required for weapon trial and testing range is also available.

Union Defence Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh expressed his confidence that this 12th edition of Defence Expo in Gujarat will surely be a massive success.

The defence minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the mantra to make the country ‘Aatma Nirbhar’. Following this, the Ministry of Defence will encourage various companies to invest in the production of defence equipment at this year’s Defence Expo.

Conveying that we are planning for ‘Make in India’ to ‘Make for the world’ through such Defence Expos, Mr. Singh added that India is also likely to become a global defence manufacturing hub in the near future.

In previous Defence Expo in Lucknow, around 1000 companies of 70 countries had participated. In the upcoming Defence Expo, the goal is to raise the number of participant countries to 100, said Mr. Singh.

Mr. Singh further said that Defence Ministers Conclave is also held along with the Defence Expo. A conference of defence ministers of various countries is also planned to be held in Gandhinagar. Last time, defence ministers from 40 countries participated in it. As now Statue of Unity is a world-wide popular tourist destination, it is recommended to prepare facilities there so that the guests visiting for Defence Expo can visit this tourist destination as well.

Details were presented in the meeting that the Defence Expo 2022 is a mega international defence exhibition echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’ to mitigate the economic impact of Corona epidemic.

The exhibition will feature many events, conclaves, seminars, business activities. Various programs will be organized to promote Defence Exhibition, Public Sector Unit of Defence, Private Industries related to Defence Sector – Start-ups and Small Enterprises, Demonstration of various Defence Equipment, Round Table Conferences, Seminars, Webinars.

An extensive presentation was also made in this meeting regarding the planning of Defence Expo-2022.

In this high-level meeting, Defence Secretary Mr. Raj Kumar, ACS Dr. Rajiv Kumar Gupta, Advisor to the Chief Minister Air Marshal Mr. R. K. Dhir, Senior Officers of the Ministry of Defence Mr. Chandraker Bharti and Mr. Achal Malhotra, Industry Commissioner of Gujarat Mr. Rahul Gupta, and MD of iNDEXTb Smt. Neelam Rani were present.

Source: Information Department, Gujarat