World Defense Show kicks off in Riyadh

RIYADH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia kicked off Sunday the second edition of the World Defence Show in the capital Riyadh, with Chinese defense delegation and Chinese Air Force attending.

Organized by the Saudi General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI), the five-day event is expected to showcase the kingdom's commitment to becoming a global hub for the defense industry, according to a press release by the authorities.

The show is attended by 773 exhibitors representing more than 75 countries, alongside numerous government entities and leading local and international companies in the defense and security sector.

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, also vice chairman of GAMI's board of directors inaugurated the event.

During the show, GAMI Governor Ahmad Al-Ohali highlighted the support to enhance the kingdom's strategic independence, which aims to localize 50 percent of its military procurement by 2030, adding that localization rates at the end of 2022 have increased from 4 percent to 13.6 percent.

A total of 73 Chinese exhibitors, ranging from sea, land, air and electronic defense equipments, participated in this year's defense show and took an exhibition area of more than 4,500 square meters, ranking second in terms of number of exhibitors and exhibition area after Saudi Arabia.

General Manager of Poly Technologies Inc. Saudi Branch, Sun Xinbo, said, "Poly Technologies is very honored to represent China's defense industry, bringing our country's latest defense products to friendly nations."

"To address the increasingly severe non-traditional threats such as counter-terrorism and stability maintenance, we also introduced border defense systems and other products that meet the needs of police counter-terrorism," said Sun.

Notably, the August 1st aerobatic demonstration team of the Chinese Air Force visited Riyadh to participate in the event, and is expected to bring flying stunts to the audience on Monday.