Скачать или смотреть PAKISTAN: INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE EXHIBITION

(17 Nov 2000) English/Nat

Pakistan showed off its military capability at its first ever International Defence Exhibition in the commercial capital Karachi.

The "Ideas 2000" show opened on Tuesday.

One of the highlights so far has been the demonstration of a newly built Pakistani tank.

The county makes two types of tanks, which were on display.

The expo is being attended by 20 countries including China, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Singapore, Romania, Ukraine and Turkey.

The U-S is not participating as it has an arms embargo against Islamabad which was imposed in 1990 to punish the nation for its nuclear program.

Pakistan expects to see a brisk trade in its ammunition, mostly artillery and tank shells.

Anti-tank missiles, and non surface-to-surface missiles made here will be for sale at the expo.

Interest has been expressed by countries looking for quality, but without the hefty price tag of western-manufactured equipment.

Military officials in Pakistan claims the defence equipment here is of a superior quality and much cheaper, insisting it can compete in the international market .

Organisers of the exhibition said they want to break the monopoly the West currently has in the multi-billion-dollar defence industry.

Pakistan, which spends nearly 40 percent of its annual 14 (b) billion U-S dollar budget on defense, would like to do some business in the military field and offset the costs, according to officials.

The current defence export revenue is barely a few hundred (m) million.

Long-and-medium-range missiles are not for sale in this exhibition.

The country's longest range missile is the Shaheen 2 which has a range of 2-thousand 500 kilometers (1,500 miles) and is capable of accommodating a nuclear warhead.

Both Pakistan and its uneasy neighbor India tested nuclear devices in 1998 and declared themselves nuclear powers.

However, it's not believed that either country has deployed nuclear weapons.

The country's Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf spoke after having visited the expo.

He said his country had made great achievements in defence compared to India.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
" Let me compare this achievement to with Indian production of tank. They produced an Arjun tank, it has taken them 25 years. And having produced it after 25 years they have seen that it weighs over 58 tonnes, its mobility is not good it will get bogged down in the terrain that it is supposed to be operating in and it has many other defects due to which the army actually had rejected the tank and now are purchasing tanks from Russia."
SUPER CAPTION: General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's Chief Executive

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