New Delhi, Aug 2 (FN Bureau) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday visited Kevadia in Gujarat, where the Defence Expo will be held in 2022. Singh reviewed the preparations along with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani for DefExpo-2022, at Kevadia, Gujarat. The 12th edition of DefExpo, which is India’s flagship event showcasing the land, naval, air as well as homeland security systems, will be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat between March 10-13, 2022.
During the meeting Rajnath Singh and senior officials of Ministry of Defence and Gujarat Government noted that the previous edition of DefExpo, which was held at Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow in February 2020, was a tremendous success due to the seamless jointmanship between Government of India and the State Government. It was agreed that as DefExpo-2022 is coinciding with the 75th year of Independence, being celebrated as ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the event needs more active participation and synchronised efforts at all levels. Expressing satisfaction at the ongoing preparations, the defence minister urged all the stakeholders to ensure maximum participation in the upcoming event. He hoped that not just domestic but international representation will be much greater at DefExpo-2022 than its previous edition.
Reiterating the resolve of the Government to ‘Make in India, Make for the World’, Singh expressed confidence that India will soon become a global manufacturing hub. “We are taking big strides towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ as envisioned by our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. We will soon achieve self-reliance in defence. Our aim is to reduce dependency on imports and increase defence exports,” he said. On the occasion, an MoU was signed between Defence Ministry and Gujarat Government for organising DefExpo-2022. The DefExpo-2022 will be a hybrid business event, with the exhibition planned at the Helipad Exhibition Centre and seminars at Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre. A live demonstration of weapons & defence platforms is also being planned at the Sabarmati River Front in Ahmedabad. It will be organised keeping with the COVID-19 protocols. In February 2021, India was the first country to conduct a hybrid aerospace exhibition, Aero India-2021 at Bengaluru, in compliance with strict COVID-19 protocols.