Host of region's premier defence show eyes 40 countries

Bandar Seri Begawan - Royal Brunei Technical Services Sdn Bhd (RBTS) is targeting an increase in participants at this year's Brunei Darussalam International Defence Exhibition and Conference (BRIDEX2013), the premier defence and security event in Southeast Asia.

This was revealed by the RBTS' Chief Executive Officer, Hajah Rosmawati binti Hj Manaf, in an interview yesterday at the RBTS Family Day.

She said, "This year, we will continue to focus on the premiere defence exhibition at BRIDEX ... we have more and new countries participating in the event. We are targeting around 40 countries to take part compared to the previous event when we had more than 30 countries."

"Turkey will still be the biggest (participant), followed by the United States. And we already have new participating countries like Belgium. There are many more to come."

She mentioned that the BRIDEX2013 which was originally scheduled for October 8-12, 2013 has been rescheduled to December 3-7, 2013.

Besides hosting BRIDEX, she emphasised that "this year will be an exceptionally busy year for RBTS, the leading acquisition and systems management service provider in the country, as Brunei Darussalam is chairing the Asean Summit."

She said, "RBTS is playing an important role in ensuring that all the defence and security needs are met during the Asean Summit. We are procuring all the strategic and sensitive equipment in defence and security, especially for the Asean Summit.

"The process is currently running smoothly and we are working hard to ensure that the items will be delivered at a certain date this year."

She disclosed that RBTS will launch the paintball games for public participation by mid to end of February this year.

"The paintball games will be held in Jerudong where the previous shooting range was. We will open the paintball games to members of the Program Khidmat Bakti Negara (PKBN) this month and (it) will only be open to the public after the PKBN."

She said this year, RBTS is celebrating its silver jubilee which may have to be marked after BRIDEX2013.