Indian Ministry of Defence,
The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony leaves New Delhi on Sunday, on a three-day visit to Germany. Accompanied by a high-level official delegation, Shri 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.
The Berlin Air Show is the oldest air show in the world dating back to 1909. India is participating in this leading air show as a Partner Country for the first time in Defence sector. 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 Shri Antony, Mr Michael Glos, Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, Mr Matthias Platzeck, Minister President of the Land Brandenburg, Mr Harald Wolf, Mayor of Berlin and Senator for Economics, Technology and Women, and Mr Jürgen Thumann, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).
In a message to the organizers of the show, Shri 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’, Shri Antony said.
Referring to the Indian Defence Sector, Shri Antony said, ‘new policies to transform this sector by actively encouraging all players-whether private or public, Indian or foreign-to play a larger role in defence production through mutually beneficial partnerships, private investment and technology transfers have been put in place. Companies that proactively seek out industrial partners in India will enjoy advantages in our expanding market. In this context, we welcome recent commitments made by some European partners to transfer technology to Indian partners and locate production in India’, the Defence Minister said.
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.
Over the years, Indo-German relations have remained cordial and friendly. India was the first country after the Allied withdrawal to establish diplomatic relations with Germany in 1951 and was among the first few countries to have supported the cause of unification in the early stages. Indo-German relations have made rapid strides in the last few years backed by a number of high level visits from both sides.
The two countries signed an agreement on Bilateral Defence Cooperation in September, 2006. The agreement envisages that the main forum for guiding the defence relations between India and Germany will be the High Defence Committee, which would meet once every year alternatively in India and Germany at the level of Defence Secretary. The agreement is also aimed at establishing expert level talks in the form of sub- groups on strategic defence issues i.e. Security and Military Policy, Arms Control, Disaster Relief, Defence Technology, Procurement Procedures, etc. It would also provide higher level of strategic partnership for co-development, co-production, joint ventures and transfer of technology.
India and Germany also signed an agreement on Mutual Protection of Classified Information on Defence related issues during the visit of German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel to New Delhi on October 30, 2007.
The delegation to accompany the Defence Minister includes Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, Defence Secretary Shri Vijay Singh, Secretary Defence Production Shri Pradeep Kumar, DG Acquisition Shri SK Sharma, Advisor to Defence Minister Shri Sundaram Krishna, Additional Secretary Defence Production Shri Ajoy Acharya, Joint Secretary (Exports) Shri 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.
Shri Antony will start his official engagements with a visit to the Berlin War Cemetery and pay his homage. It is the place where 51 soldiers of undivided India who died during the World War II have been laid to rest.
The Defence Minister returns home on 28 May.
