- Title: United Arab Emirates: Arms Show
- Date: 16th March 1997
- Summary: One of the world's biggest arms shows opened in Abu Dhabi on March 16, attracting hundreds of international weaponry companies seeking to gain better access to the oil-lubricated Gulf Arab arms market.Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zaid Al Nahayan, one of the powerful men who gives the green light to arms deals in this emirate, opened the five-day International Defence Exhibition (IDEX). He and other senior United Arab Emirates officials looked on as a Ukrainian T-72 main battle tank and other vehicles ploughed through muddy terrain below a grandstand at the opening ceremony.Rocket launchers and helicopters were on display in the exhibition's huge halls, alongside high-tech videos demonstrating electronic guidance devices for naval vessels. Paul Beaver, Editor of The Jane Show Daily, said the arms show was the largest of its sort in the world, adding that it was "the most important arms exhibition probably this decade." Abu Dhabi, nervously watching non-Arab Iran across the Gulf, has emerged as a prized customer in the international arms bazaar and several contracts were expected to be announced at IDEX.At one stand, Sheikh Saif Bin Zaid Al Nahayan needed no prompting to express his pleasure at the sight of an advanced light strike vehicle on display, ordering five without hesitation. Some 750 companies from 51 countries came to IDEX to discuss arms products with prospective customers from the lucrative Gulf.
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- Location: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UAE ABU DHABI
- Reuters ID: LDL00126CNTDB
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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