30.03.2015.

Promotional meeting for the 7th international fair "Partner 2015"

Today, at the Belgrade Fair, a promotional meeting was held to announce the 7th international fair of armaments and defense equipment - PARTNER 2015, which will be held from June 23 to 26. As in past years, the general sponsor of this year’s manifestation is the Ministry of Defence, co-organizer is Jugoimport-SDPR, and the executive organizer is the Belgrade Fair.

The upcoming Partner 2015 was presented by Major General prof. Dr. Bojan Zrnic, Deputy Assistant Minister for material resources, Aleksandar Lijakovic, Director of the Direction for Commercial Businesses of Jugoimport SDPR, and Mirjana Lukic, advisor to the General Director of the Belgrade Fair. The meeting was attended by representatives of MoD and SAF institutions, manufacturers of armaments and defence equipment and media representatives.

On behalf of the general sponsor of the manifestation, the guests were greeted by General Zrnic. He said that, in the decade of its successful work, “Partner” had gained a significant role in the region among similar manifestations that present products and technologies intended for the needs of defence.

- This manifestation is particularly important because it presents together the research, development, testing, production and overhaul capacities of MoD, with factories of defence industry of Serbia and other national scientific, research and production institutions, whose mutual task is providing equipment for the Armed Forces of Serbia and other subjects of the defence system for execution of their missions and tasks, in response to modern challenges and threats to Serbia. Moreover, at the Fair, we wish to present to our partners in the region and the world Serbia’s potentials for cooperation in the field of defence technologies and for work on joint research, development and production projects. To this effect, I would like to announce, for the first time, that “Partner” will be attended by representatives of the European Defence Agency that has an administrative cooperation agreement with the Serbian Ministry of Defence – General Zrnic stressed.

General Zrnic stressed that participation of foreign exhibitors at the Fair is also increasing, in its number, and diversity of offers, which shows that they too have recognized the broader importance of this manifestation. According to him, it is expected that over 20 official delegations from partnership and friendly countries will attend the Fair.

- Participation of renowned foreign exhibitors offers good opportunity for our manufacturers of arms and defence equipment, primarily from the group of the Serbian defence industry to improve the existing and establish new forms of cooperation of mutual interest - Deputy Assistant Minister for material resources said.

Discussing he plans of Jugoimport SDPR and presentation of special purpose industry at “Partner 2015”, Aleksandar Lijakovic announced that, unlike the previous manifestation, this year’s manifestation will return to the old practice (established in 2004 when the Fair was founded), which is that Jugoimport will integrate the presentation of companies of the Serbian defence industry with he presentation of a number of smaller companies that cooperate in th production of complex defence systems and other companies, more or less focused on defence as their field of activities.

According to him, at Partner 2015, Jugoimport will display four new defence systems, still unannounced as the surprise of the Fair. Also, it will showcase means that have bee developed for years, and that each year acquire a new characteristic or quality.

“Partner” Project Manager Mirjana Lukic stressed that, according to some parameters, the Belgrade Fair has become the leading manifestation of its kind in the region. She supported the statement with numbers. Military technology is displayed on 17,600 square meters of exhibition space in halls and 5,000 square meters of open exhibition space, and the previous manifestation had 93 direct exhibitors and 6,000 registered visitors.