LIMA 2011 To Be The Best In Its Series - Minister

LANGKAWI (Malaysia), Nov 11 (Bernama) -- The 11th edition of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Exhibition next month will become the best in its series, Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi said. He said the exhibition, which scheduled for Dec 6 till 10, would see an overall improvement in terms of participation of exhibitors, aircrafts and vessels. "A total of 403 exhibitors from 35 countries had confirmed their participations in LIMA 2011, which is an increase of merely 25 per cent from the 2009 edition," he told a press conference after chairing the preparation meeting for LIMA 2011 with the relevant agencies here Thursday. Zahid said the participation of aircrafts in the aerospace segment had also increased to 26 aircrafts this year as compared to 11 in 2009. Among the aircrafts are Sukhoi (Malaysia), F-18 Super Hornet (Australia) and Eurofighter Typhoon (United Kingdom), he said. Apart from that, he said Malaysia's second submarine, KD Tun Abdul Razak, and 11 Royal Malaysian Navy-owned vessels, as well as 12 foreign warships, including guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur from the United States, RSS Supreme (Singapore) and HMAS Glenelg (Australia) would also add more colours to the maritime segment to be held at Awana Porto Malai. Zahid said 38,000 trade visitors and 45,000 members of the public were expected to throng the event. He also announced that the ticket price for members of the public for the aerospace exhibition in Dewan Mahsuri, Padang Mat Sirat on Dec 9 and 10, had been reduced to RM10 as compared to RM30 previously, while the admission for maritime exhibition at Awana Porto Malai would be free of charge. -- BERNAMA