KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 22nd August, 2018) Over 500 members of military delegations took part in the first day of the international defense industry forum Army-2018, which began in the Moscow Region on Tuesday, a senior official with the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
"The total number of the guests included in military delegations amounted to 520. Eighty-four foreign companies from 18 states are taking part in the forums, while there were 78 companies and holdings from 14 countries in 2017, and 58 companies from 13 countries in 2016," Maj. Gen. Roman Kordyukov, the acting head of the ministry's research and development department, told reporters.
He added that defense ministry delegations from 102 foreign countries took part in the opening ceremony of the event.
"Defense ministers of 18 states [attended the ceremony]: Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Egypt, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Central African Republic, South Ossetia," Kordyukov added.
Chiefs of general staff from four countries and deputy defense ministers from 17 countries attended the ceremony as well.
"The club of countries represented by their national exhibitions [at the forum] continues expanding. In 2015, we started with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Malaysia. In 2017, China, the Republic of South Africa and Slovakia, which replaced Malaysia, joined us. Today, Turkey joined this symbolic eight," Kordyukov said.
The fourth annual Army-2018 forum started on Tuesday at the Patriot congress and exhibition center in the town of Kubinka and will last through Sunday. The agenda features demonstrations of military equipment, with over 26,000 units set to be presented, as well as discussions and conferences.
