A webinar and expo between India and Bangladesh was held on 19/11/2020. The Theme of webinar was “India - Bangladesh Defence Cooperation: Cooperation in Defence and Commercial Shipbuilding”.  It was organized under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence through FICCI.

This webinar is the part of the series of webinars which are being organized with friendly foreign countries in order to boost defence exports and achieve defence export target of $5 billion in the next five years.

Mr. Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Minister of Shipping, Government of Bangladesh, Mr. Raj Kumar, Secretary (DP), MoD,India and other senior MoD officials from both sides participated in the webinar. Both sides spoke about need to leverage collaborative opportunities in defence, specially in shipbuilding sector. Shri Sanjay Jaju, Additional Secretary (DP) mentioned that government is giving impetus to Atmanirbharat, which does not mean going into protectionism, but the idea is to create self-reliance, not just in defence production but also creating linkages with global supply chains.

Various Indian companies such as Larsen & Toubro Limited, Indian National Shipowners’ Association, Goa Shipyard Limited, GRSE, Cochin Shipyard Limited, Raads Marine, Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, Reach Dredging, Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Private Limited, Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited and Marine Solutionz made company and product presentations. From Bangladesh side Association of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh (AEOSIB), Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, FMC Dockyard, Ananda Shipyard & Slipways Limited and Chittagong Port Authority made presentations.

The webinar was attended by more than 240 participants and 40 virtual exhibition stalls have been set up in the Expo.

ABB/Nampi/Rajib