The tenth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS 2018), one of the most prestigious, biennially held event in the country kicked off at Karachi’s Expo Centre on Tuesday.

The four-day defence exhibition which will continue till November 30 was opened by President Arif Alvi. Around 262 high-level delegations from 51 different countries are attending the exhibition. 

Addressing the opening ceremony, the president asserted, "Pakistan is a peaceful country and we look forward to resolution of all issues in a peaceful manner. War is no option."

The president upheld, "Our weapons are for peaceful intent." He stressed that "instability in regions is not the only paradigm we should be looking at". "We have handled our borders strongly and sent a strong message to our neighbours," President Alvi said. 

Organised under the aegis of Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO), the IDEAS 2018 will bring together defence industry players from different parts of the world.

"There will be 522 exhibitors from 50 countries this year," the media director of DEPO, Commodore Tariq Javed said in a media briefing.

Besides, Pakistan itself other major exporters of defence technology including China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, USA will have their exclusive country pavilions.

The guest countries are expected to showcase their latest technological innovations while a large number of senior civil and military delegations and trade visitors from across the globe will attend the event.

The event will encompass series of activities ranging from world's advance defence technology demonstrations, an international seminar, three conferences by the Pakistan armed forces, the IDEAS Karachi Show to a counter-terrorism demonstration.

Networking and business expansions through business to business (B2B) and business to government (B2G) engagements and the signing of MoUs are said to be additional features of the exhibition.

Two Russian naval ships will also be visiting Pakistan for port call during IDEAS 2018.

The fourth day of the exhibition will be open for public. "It will, however, be only for those who may have already registered themselves online to visit the exhibition," said Commodore Tariq Javed mentioning that security of the participants, national and international visitors besides public in general will not be compromised in any manner.