Prabhat Ranjan Deen
LUCKNOW, Feb 4: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said that the Defence Expo-2020 will help to build India a country of five trillion economy.
“This is an event of proud for the people of Uttar Pradesh that Lucknow is organizing Def Expo 2020. It will be the biggest ever defence exhibition in the country in terms of participation of exhibitors, the area of the exhibition and the revenue to be earned,” the Defence Minister said while addressing a press conference during Curtain Raiser of Defence Expo in Lucknow.
Singh that the event will be a historic one for Uttar Pradesh, because the State is going to become a destination for defence manufacturing and aerospace manufacturing and will pave the way of Defence Corridor in UP which will give tremendous job opportunities to the youths of the State and simultaneously we will be having a grand infrastructure with so many industries of defence production.
Rajnath said that in the near future India will become the hub of defence equipment production and Uttar Pradesh will play an important role in it. He said that invitation has been extended to 135 countries for this Defence Expo and 70 nations have confirmed their participation. PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the DefExpo-2020 tomorrow.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Yogi Adityanath announced that in very near future UP Government is starting aviation service for the common people. He said the Government is buying two Dornier planes from HAL, which will fly on shorter routes like Lucknow-Varanasi, Lucknow-Bareilly, Lucknow-Kanpur, Lucknow-Agra etc.
Yogi highlighted the importance of Defence Corridor which is going to connect six different districts, especially Bundelkhand, which is going to be hub of defence production soon. “We have to eradicate poverty from Bundelkhand by doing this”, Yogi said, adding, the State has land bank of 24 thousand acres adjoining the planned Defence Corridor.
The US ambassador in India Kenneth I Juster, who was also present on the occasion said that there is enormous potential for industry partnership between India and United States (US) on state-of-the-art defense equipment.
The US ambassador said, “Right now, US firms participating in this event are partnering with companies across India, including in Uttar Pradesh’s Defence Corridor, to produce defence equipment not just for our countries’ militaries, but for those of partner nations”.
Kenneth said, “This is a great opportunity to see the talent and innovation of India’s defense industry. We look forward to pursuing opportunities to expand US’ cooperation as the Indian government establishes defence industrial corridors here in Uttar Pradesh as well as in Tamil Nadu.
The US envoy said we share the belief that, in order for India to ensure its defence and work with like-minded nations in pursuit of common security objectives, it is critical that India move toward systems – not just weapons – that are effective, agile, and resilient.
“United States of America believes that India must ultimately move toward systems that are interoperable with the equipment and networks of its security partners,” he asserted and added that Indo-Americam strategic relation will be stronger in coming days. The visit of US president Donald Trump in India will further strengthen the mutual relation, he added.
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