Team Herald
PANJIM: A strong contingent of 90 companies from the USA will participate in the DefExpo 2016 in Goa. A high-level US government delegation, which includes General Dennis L Via, Commander of the Army Material Command; Ms Ann Cataldo, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Defence Exports and Cooperation; and Thomas L Vajda, the Consul General of the US Consulate in Mumbai, are in Goa to participate in this event, which will be held on March 28 to 31.
The US companies are participating in this DefExpo to showcase their product and to further the Indo-US security defence cooperation and take it to the co-production and co-development level.
“The US is committed to extend support to India and its endeavour of Make in India. We already have an established a hotline between the US President and the Prime Minister of India. This relationship between India and US stands on its own and has no lineage with regards to other nations. We have already seen that the cooperation in the sectors of education, health and space technology has greatly increased recently, and now the same is being extended to defence technology,” said Thomas Vajda, the US Consul General.
General Dennis Via said that about 90 US companies would showcase their cutting-edge technology and would look forward to sharing the best practices.
“The biggest take away from this DefExpo could be the building of a closer defence-related relationship between India and the US, and there could also be an opportunity for co-production and co-development with regard to the Make in India campaign,” said Via.
Meanwhile, Ann Cataldo said, “Safety and security of the homeland is one of the prime sectors in defence that is shared between India and the US. We are actively seeking cooperation in technology in defence systems. This DefExpo is an opportunity for partnerships, communications and collaboration for supporting the Make in India concept. The US companies are already in touch with companies like Tata and Mahindra, which are already into production of defence equipment.”
The US-based companies will be the largest participant, with around 90 participants, followed by Russia with 71. Companies based in France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, South Korea and the UK will join the 490 foreign participants from 47 countries. Around 1,000 domestic and foreign delegates are expected to participate in this DefExpo.
