Lima 2013 To Be Held In March, Not December

LANGKAWI (Malaysia), Dec 10 (Bernama) -- The Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima) will hold its 12th edition in 2013 in March instead of December as in the past 11 occasions, Defence Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Saturday. He said Lima '13 will be held from March 26 to 30 in a break with tradition after taking into account a request from the exhibitors due to four main reasons. Speaking at a media conference on the final day of Lima '11 at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) here, Dr Ahmad Zahid said many of the exhibitors felt that the event was too close to Christmas and that they wanted to go on holiday. He also said that the Defence Services Asia (DSA) exhibition is held in Kuala Lumpur in April and the exhibitors felt that the gap in the period between April and December was too long. "Also in December, we face the monsoon season, although this time our weather consultant did a good job. "Furthermore, most of the companies would have exhausted their budgets by the end of the year. They will have more money to spend earlier in the year," he said. Dr Ahmad Zahid also said that Malaysia's first professional aerobatics team, Krisakti, launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak on Tuesday here, has received requests for eight performances. They are being asked to perform during the Armed Forces Day, Army Day, Navy Day and Air Force Day besides during the Formula One, MotoGP and National Day events, he said, adding that there was also a request from Brunei Darussalam. Dr Ahmad Zahid said hotels in Langkawi extended good cooperation for Lima '11 by not offering costly packages compared to the previous editions of Lima, and added that the local people also responded well to the event. Lima '11 was held over five days from Tuesday. It was divided into two sections, aerospace at the MIEC and maritime at Awana Porto Malai. -- BERNAMA