PM Sharif says Pakistan against arms race in the region

Karachi: Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said Pakistan was against an arms race in the region, but would pursue the motto of “arms for peace”.

Addressing the inauguration of four-day ninth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) here, the prime minister said Pakistan was committed to discouraging an arms race, and promoting “the motto of arms for peace, which has always been the tagline of IDEAS”.

The prime minister said Pakistan had achieved self-reliance in defence production and noted that IDEAS-2016 was a demonstration of collaboration of local and foreign technologies.

He said over 2,000 weapons systems and equipment were on display at the exhibition, reflecting the broad-based participation of the country’s public and private sector in defence production, supported by research and development.

Sharif said the country’s defence products were state-of-the-art and stood fully tested by its armed forces.

“Our defence products have made their mark in many countries of the world,” he said, adding there still existed many opportunities for further growth and exploration of new markets.

He said Pakistan was fast emerging producer of quality defence products.

“The promise of today’s Pakistan is brighter and reassuring than every before,” he said.

The prime minister invited foreign companies to expand their business linkages with Pakistan in the field of defence production.

He expressed Pakistan’s commitment for regional peace, saying that “we will explore the way forward for peace and stability in the world in general and our region in particular”.

Nawaz Sharif said the environment for foreign investment was encouraging in the country in view of improved law and order situation, besides power projects being completed on time.

He congratulated the organisers of sideline conferences during IDEAS 2016, which he said would facilitate exchanging technologies for mutual benefits and bringing together buyers and sellers — one of the core objectives of the country’s defence exhibitions.

The ninth International Defence Exports and Seminars (IDEAS) is scheduled to run until November 25, with many defence deals expected to be signed among participating countries and seminars being held to discuss the regional and international security scenario.

The chiefs of Pakistan’s Air Force and Navy were also present.

Army Chief General Raheel Sharif also accompanied the prime minister on the inauguration, marking his last high profile event before retirement on November 28.

Pakistan was showcasing Al Khalid, the tank it manufactures with technical collaboration from China, as well as the JF-17 Thunder aircraft, Super Mushak and K-8 aircraft. Locally mademissiles, armoured cars and other hardware were also on show.

This year, 418 manufactures of defence equipment, from 43 countries, were participating in the exhibition, officials said, whereas 157 companies were from Pakistan.

The number of the participants rose this year as nine more countries joined the exhibition that is being held every two year since 2000.

China, Russia, the United Sates as well as South America have been the conventional participants of the exhibition but this time Russia is making its extensive presence with extended varieties of the defence equipment. Switzerland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belarus, Czech Republic, Belgium, Romania and Nigeria are among the new entrants of the exhibition.

— with inputs from Mohammad Ashraf, correspondent