AHMEDABAD: After Vibrant Gujarat, another ambitious event of the Gujarat government is likely to get postponed due to the Covid surge. The 12th Edition of Defence Expo scheduled to be held from March 11 to March 13 in Gandhinagar has been put on the wait and watch list as Covid cases have exploded in Gujarat. Defence Ministers of 70 countries were expected to participate in the Defence Expo.
An official privy to the development said: “The Defence Expo was planned for the first time in Gujarat, former CMr Vijay Rupani had announced this earlier in September 2021. The Gujarat government had signed an MoU with the Defence Ministry. It has already sought guidance from the ministry and has been asked to wait as of now. A final call will be taken at the end of this month.”
The official added: “A massive exhibition showcasing different types of weapons, defence vehicles, and artillery was also supposed to be a part of the expo. Stalls were supposed to be given and domes to be constructed for the exhibition. If the Centre had gone ahead with the event, it would have been an uphill task.”
The Gujarat government has already postponed Vibrant Gujarat 2022 due to the Covid surge. The Defence Expo was to be seven times the size of Vibrant Gujarat. The three-day event was expected to see the participation of around 70,000 people.The expo was supposed to highlight measures to transform India into a military manufacturing hub in line .
A major highlight of the expo was to be the Indian-African Defence Dialogue in which Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was scheduled to host his counterparts from African nations as part of the dialogue titled “India-Africa: Adopting Strategy for synergizing and strengthening defence and security cooperation.”