Amid the deepening crisis in Ukraine, the 12th edition of Defexpo scheduled to be held in Gujarat next week has been postponed, the Defence Ministry announced on Friday. “Due to logistics problems being experienced by participants, the DefExpo2022 proposed to be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, from March 10th till March 14th is postponed,” the Defence Ministry Spokesperson said on Twitter. “The new dates will be communicated in due course.”
Officials sources said some of the participating countries had difficulty in scheduling their travel due to the ongoing situation.
The development comes in the backdrop of escalating tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine and a series of sanctions imposed on Russia. In this backdrop, there have been doubts whether the U.S. and European companies would participate in the expo, which has a sizable Russian presence. On February 18, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that 930 exhibitors had registered so far and the numbers were expected to rise beyond 1,000 in the days ahead. Defence officials had said that over 55 countries had confirmed participation, with the U.S. being the largest foreign exhibitor, followed by France and Russia.. Spread over 1 lakh sq m., this year’s defexpo was to be the largest since its inception in 1996. It was to be held in Gujarat for the first time, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to attend the inaugural ceremony on March 11.
