10.04.2017.
Promotional conference on the occasion of the fair “Partner 2017”
The promotional conference on the occasion of the 8th International fair of arms and military equipment “Partner 2017” has been held today at the Belgrade Fair. Journalists and guests were addressed by Major General Prof. Dr. Bojan Zrnic, Head of Defence Technology Department of the Material Resources Sector, Aleksandar Lijakovic, Assistant Director of the public company Yugoimport SDPR and Mirjana Lukic, Advisor to the Director of the Belgrade Fair.
General Zrnic reminded that this year the 8th International fair of arms and military equipment “Partner 2017” is the event held under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence, in co-organization with the public company Yugoimport SDPR and organization of the Belgrade Fair.
“We are proud of the results which the defence industry has achieved in recent years. Thus the export growth in 2016 is 63 percent larger than in 2015 and totals 483 million US dollars. The year 2015 was also the record in comparison to the previous years. This shows we have a continuous trend of the export growth and therefore the fair “Partner” is very important as a significant tool in the marketing sense of promotion and presentation of the Serbian achievements in this sphere mainly to our, but also to the international audience, as well, in order to preserve that trend and manage to meet all challenges of very demanding competition in the world market”, General Zrnic emphasized.The Head of Defence Technology Department said that besides the companies of the Serbian Defence Industry Group, which together with Yugoimport represent the basis and backbone of Serbian potential in the sphere of arms and military equipment, the Ministry of Defence has authorized 39 other companies and business entities mainly from the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises as the manufacturers of arms and military equipment expected to attend the upcoming fair.
According to him, besides production capacities, our capacities in the sphere of research and development of arms and military equipment will be represented at the fair. General stated that this year a great number of renowned world exhibitors, as well as more than 30 foreign delegations from ministerial level to expert delegations are expected at the fair.Assistant Director of the public company Yugoimport SDPR Aleksandar Lijakovic talked about how much Yugoimport contributes to the quality of arms and military equipment display. He said that Yugoimport had joined this fair in 2004, when it was the national display, and today it represents an important event at regional level by the number of exhibitors and delegations visiting it.
Lijakovic said that this year the assets which have been in production for many years, mainly the artillery ones like Nora B-52 system and others which are the result of their development capacity like “Lazar” will be exhibited at the fair of arms and military equipment. Some new assets exhibited at the arms fair “IDEX 2017” will be exhibited, and the national audience will have a chance to see something completely new, which is going to be the surprise for all visitors of the fair.
Assistant Director of the public company Yugoimport SDPR stressed that after several years the Ministry of Interior and Serbian Armed Forces have started equipping with the assets from Yugoimport development, which leads to the improvement of their combat readiness.Mirjana Lukic, Advisor to the Director of the Belgrade Fair, reminded of the significant data, which show the growing trend of the development of this event – 23 exhibitors participated in the fair in 2004, then each 2 years more of them – 40, 62, 74, 88 until the number of 116 exhibitors, who took part in the arms and military equipment fair two years ago.
“We expect the event of a larger scope than we had so far with a greater number of novelties, more international exhibitors, with greater interest of media and larger number of international delegations”, Mirjana Lukic stressed.
This year the arms and military equipment fair “Partner” will be held from 27th until 30th June in two halls of the Belgrade Fair – I and IV.
