Amid Coronavirus Fears, Chinese Team Dropped Out of Defence Expo; May Not be Part of Auto Expo Too

Lucknow: As the state capital gears up for Defence Expo 2020 beginning Wednesday, fear over deadly coronavirus has led the administration to drop out the Chinese delegation after India temporarily suspended e-visa facility for travellers from the virus-hit country.

Not just DefExpo 2020, but the upcoming Auto Expo in Delhi might also not see participation by Chinese firms due to the deadly virus scare.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the country's five-day biennial mega defence exhibition — DefExpo — on Wednesday in Lucknow. Over 1,000 national and international defence firms will participate in the DefExpo, which is being held for the first time in the Uttar Pradesh capital from February 5-9.

After the inaugural ceremony of the Expo, Modi will visit the India and UP pavilions. A live demonstration of Indian defence is also scheduled for the event. On February 5, Modi is expected to reach the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow at around 10am, from where he will fly near the venue of the DefExpo via a helicopter. Afterwards, he will take the road to reach the venue. Defence Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh is also expected to reach the city for a curtain-raiser event at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan on February 4.

Defence Expo 2020, which starts on February 5 in Lucknow, will be attended by the defence ministers from across the world. Leaders of around 40 countries, including Czech Republic, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, South Korea among others, have already confirmed their participation, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar said.

It will probably be for the first time that an India-Africa Defence Conclave will be held during Defence Expo, he added. The number of companies that registered themselves for participating in the DefExpo 2020 has increased to 1,000 from 702 in the last edition that was held in Chennai. There was also a 96 percent jump in the booked space by exhibitors in DefExpo 2020 to over 53,000 square meters, compared to around 27,000 during the last edition.

Apart from this, live demonstrations of the services, DPSUs and industry showing the land, naval, air and internal security systems can be seen during the exhibition, which is to be held in Lucknow from February 5 to 9. There will also be live demonstration at two locations, one of which will be at the exhibition site and the other at the Gomati river front.