The four-day event, spanning over 35,000 sq.m with both indoor and outdoor exhibitions at Gia Lam Airport, displays hundreds of military equipment and weaponry of the Vietnam People’s Army and participating countries.

Stepan Skorepa, Sales Director of Ceska Zbrojovska of the Czech Republic, said, “We believe that given the history that the CZ has in Vietnam, for more than 50 years, the partnership between Vietnamese arms forces and the CZ is very strong and we are looking forward to increasing the potential here.”

Xavier Rolland, regional business manager of Deschamps, a small French defense industry company specializing in providing high-tech solutions for engineering and logistics, said that the good political relationship between France and Vietnam opens up major opportunities for cooperation in defense and security.

Rolland said that although this is the first time Deschamps has attended the Vietnam International Defense Expo, he has initiated promising cooperation projects with a number of Vietnamese partners.

“The French and Vietnamese governments are working more closely to boost defense cooperation. Now we’ve received a very warm welcome from Vietnamese partners who invited us to participate in the event, to introduce and show interest in our technology. Therefore, our future prospects for industrial and commercial cooperation are certainly positive,” said Rolland.

As part of the Expo, a series of major seminars on defense cooperation potential between Vietnam and the US, Russia, the UK, India, Japan, and South Korea will be held from Friday to Sunday.