PM Modi to inaugurate country's biggest Defence Exibition 'Lucknow DefExpo 2020'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the biennial Defence exhibition Defexpo-2020 which will be held in Lucknow next month from February 5-9. The aim of the expo is to bring the leading technologies in the defence sector under one roof in order to provide opportunities for the private manufacturers, start-ups and the government. The theme of the Expo is 'India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub'.

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Touted to be the biggest in the country

The event is said to be the biggest defence exhibition in the country so far in terms of participation of various stakeholders. Various nations such as the US, Russia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom will be a part of the expo. Defence Ministers and Service Chiefs of 35 countries have confirmed their participation for the DefExpo. The number of companies registered for participating in the DefExpo 2020 has reached 1,000 including 165 foreign companies as against the figure of 702 companies participating in Defexpo 2018. The booked exhibition space by exhibitors for DefExpo 2020 has gone up by 60 per cent to over 42,800 square metres, compared to around 26,774 during the last edition.

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The event is also being seen as a major push by the government towards building a huge military equipment manufacturing infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh which has one of the two designated defence industrial corridors.

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Since 2016, the DefExpo has been changing venues after former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar decided to shift it to Goa from Delhi. Since then, the event was held in Chennai when Nirmala Sitharaman was the Defence Minister and now it has been shifted to Lucknow. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has made elaborate efforts to make the event successful. The event will be attended by Defence Ministry officials and armed forces led by the Chief of Defence Staff and the three services chiefs.

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(With ANI Inputs)