Defence export promotion: Seminar to explore potential of partnerships

A two-day seminar is being held for promoting defence exports in the country.

The Defence Export Promotion Organisation, an arm of the Ministry of Defence Production, is holding the seminar titled ‘Public-Private Partnership in Defence Production and Export: Challenges and Way Forward’ on December 2 and 3 at a local hotel in the capital.

The aim of the seminar is to explore avenues of cooperation between public and private sectors in defence production and export, with the view to offer policy guidelines to the government in the domain of defence production and export.

A press release issued on Saturday stated that the share of private sector investment in the defence industry of Pakistan is considered marginal when compared to that in other countries in the world. Hence, there is a need to indentify impediments or shortcomings in the pursuit of public-private partnership in the defence industry with a view to boost defence exports, improve research and development, and make products more competitive internationally.

The seminar will focus on a range of themes relevant to public-private partnerships in defence production, such as global and regional military outlook, trends and challenges for Pakistan’s defence industry, and financial models to facilitate public-private partnership.

The Turkish public-private partnership model in defence production will be presented by Turkish Undersecretary for Defence Industry Dr Ismail Demir.

As many as 70 speakers from public and private sectors, academia and industry will give their intellectual input during three plenary sessions and five roundtable sessions.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th,  2015.