The most important exhibition of military equipment in the Middle East will be attended for the first time by Israeli companies

The IDEX 2021 defence show will be held in the Emirates with maximum health guarantees

photo_camera PHOTO/ADNEC - IDEX is held under the patronage of the President of the Emirates and the direct involvement of the Vice-President and Head of Government, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

The government of the Union of Arab Emirates is immersed in official preparations to welcome the heads of state, heads of government, ministers and senior civilian and military authorities who in three months' time will come to Abu Dhabi to attend one of the most important defence industry showcases in the world and undoubtedly the main one to be held in the Middle East.

The 15th edition of the International Defence Exhibition, better known as IDEX, is scheduled to take place from 21 to 25 February at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC). It will also be attended by purchasing managers from defence ministries and executives from companies from all over the world, who have chosen the opportunity provided by the Emirates to close multi-million dollar contracts for the acquisition of weapons systems, logistics equipment and cutting-edge technologies for military use.
 

Emiratos defensa

The organisers are confident that this will be the first major global defence event during the recovery phase of the pandemic and that it will be a face-to-face rather than a virtual event. To achieve this, the 133,000 square metres of exhibition space in its 12 halls are being reconfigured to allow the latest products developed by the manufacturers of weapons systems, such as vehicles and battle tanks, missiles of different capacities, drones and all types of logistics equipment, to be displayed in maximum security conditions. 

At the same time, the Naval Defence Exhibition, NAVDEX 2021, will be held at the ADNEC Marina, a show exclusively dedicated to the military naval sector. On an open-air land and sea exhibition area of some 30,000 square metres, technology companies and shipyards dedicated to the construction of small warships or linked to maritime security will be showing and exhibiting their latest products.

As a preamble to both exhibitions, the International Defence Conference will be held on 20 February. As in previous editions, it is estimated that this forum alone will be attended by around a thousand senior civil and military officials from over fifty ministries of defence and the armed forces of the five continents.

Emiratos Defensa
With the full support of the Government of the United Arab Emirates

Together with business leaders, industrial corporations, scientists, engineers and academics linked to the sector, the official representatives will discuss at the Conference on Artificial Intelligence applied to weapons systems, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fourth industrial revolution and the impact of the measures that different countries are carrying out to increase their military potential and strengthen the security of their borders. 

Emiratos Defensa

The triple event is held every two years under the patronage of the president of the Emirates himself and supreme commander of his armed forces, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. It is organised by the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company, which works closely with the Ministry of Defence and all the nation's military and police forces.

The Director General of the Organising Committee, Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, said that practically "all the available exhibition space has already been sold" and that an "effort" is being made to accommodate "more than 1,300 companies". Given the high purchasing potential of the countries in the region, IDEX and NAVDEX 2021 are attended by numerous companies from all over the world, including countries such as Austria, Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden and, of course, the major arms exporters: the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
 

Emiratos Defensa

As a result of the peace agreement signed last September by the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Israel and the normalisation of relations between the two countries, this will be the first time that Israeli arms companies will be present at IDEX and NAVDEX, surrounded by exceptional security measures and grouped under a national flag. 

In return, emirati companies will attend ISDEF 2021, a similar exhibition to be held from 1 to 3 June in Tel Aviv under the sponsorship of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry. Although of great importance to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ISDEF's organisation and scope is usually of the order of 80 exhibitors, around 3,000 attendees and is visited by around fifty official delegations, much smaller than the Abu Dhabi shows.

Emiratos IDEX
Prevention measures will be the main focus of COVID-19 

As the direct commercial responsible for the success of the triple event, Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri has implemented a set of preventive measures against COVID-19, in accordance with the strictest health standards. The aim is to ensure that all participants and visitors "can attend with full guarantees of safety".

Thermal scanners will be installed at all entrance points, crossing points and important locations. The use of face masks will be mandatory and social distancing protocols will be applied. There will also be sterilisation and disinfection points throughout the entire period that the show is open.  

Emiratos Defensa

According to the organisers, the previous edition held in the second half of February 2019 was attended by a total of 1,310 exhibiting companies from 62 countries, of which just over a dozen were Spanish. Most of them were grouped together in a national pavilion and included Aertec Solutions, Escribano Mechanical & Engineering, Everis Aerospace and Defense, Expal Systems, Grabysur, Hisdesat, Instalaza, Iraundi, Jomipsa, Navantia, SAES, Tecnobit and Uro Vehículos Especiales. 

To strengthen the national presence, senior officials from the Ministry of Defence are usually present. This was done in 2015 by the Secretary of State for Defence, then Pedro Arguelles, when Pedro Morenés held the defence portfolio. At the last event, with Margarita Robles heading the department, the Director General of Armaments and Material, Admiral Santiago Ramón González, attended, as did the Spanish ambassador, Antonio Álvarez Barthe.  

Emiratos IDEX

The first edition of IDEX dates back to 1993, which was already set up with a large number of facilities for exhibitors, as is the case now. The global importance of the Abu Dhabi show is such that it is foreseeable that a large number of Spanish companies will repeat the event next year under a new Spanish pavilion organised by TEDAE, the sector's employers' association. 

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