The biennial event saw the participation of naval and coast guard commanders anddefence officials from 44 countries and leading defence industrial groupsworldwide.
As a regional leading exhibition for displaying naval equipment and technologies,the event also serves as a forum for participants to discuss maritimesecurity-related issues.
As many as 230 companies from 29 countries are exhibiting and introducing productsand technologies serving maritime defence at the three-day exhibition,including warships, military weapons, unmanned systems and naval networksecurity solutions, among others.
In his opening speech, Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen highlighted theimportance of maritime trade for the Asian region, affirming that strengthened cooperationamong countries will help ensure navigation security and safety in the region.
Singapore’s naval force is playing a vital role in fostering efforts to addressregional maritime security threats through participating in joint patrols with Indonesia,Malaysia and Thailand in the Straits of Malacca, aswell as sharing information to support the regional effort to fight maritime terrorism.
By 2030, the whole Asia Pacific region will have more 800 warships, Ng Eng Henquoted data of the AMI International - a UK firm that specialises in providingcountless turnkey solutions for navigation and safety equipment.
He said regional countries should strengthen their naval power and multilateralcooperation to deal with new challenges at sea.
In the framework of IMDEX ASIA 2017, a series of relevant conferenceswere organized, including the 5th International Maritime Security Conference and the 3rd International NavalEngineering Conference, which focused on maritime security and updated latesttechnological trends for the naval field.
For the first time, a forumon network security for maritime trade activities was held, debating risksthreatening modern navigation security and the possibility of cyber attacks on fishingships with high value.-VNA