Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang (central) led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the event. (Photo: VNA)
The event was attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak; Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi; Minister of Defence Hishammuddin Hussein and military delegations from 36 countries.
The Vietnamese delegation is led by Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army.
The event has attracted 550 enterprises, including top arms-producing companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus and Thales, to participate.
Earlier, on March 15th, the frigate HQ-011 Dinh Tien Hoang left Vietnam for the event. It is scheduled to take part in the event’s ship review and maritime demonstration alongside several exercises, including a rescue operation.
The LIMA is a maritime and aerospace exhibition that takes place once every two years in Langkawi, Malaysia.
The event is one of the largest maritime and aerospace exhibitions in the Asia-Pacific, and is focused mainly on the defence industry, but also supports civilian industries.
In 2013, LIMA recorded an overall growth of 10%, with 433 exhibitors from 31 countries, 333 defence delegations from 38 countries, 632 media personnel from 127 agencies, 68 ships and 78 aircraft attending the show.
While in 2015, the previous exhibition attracted 512 exhibiting companies from 36 countries; 39,684 trade visitors; 377 delegations from 41 nations, including the Ministers of Defense, Chiefs of Defense Forces, Chief of Air Forces, Chiefs of Navy, Chiefs of Army, Chiefs of Police and Chiefs of Coast Guard; 54 warships; 78 aircrafts; and 17 country pavilions./.
The exhibition will run until March 25th./.