LANGKAWI: The morning rain on this tourist island in the past few days was no respite from the hot weather ahead of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2023 (LIMA ’23).
A Bernama observation at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) here which is one of the main venues for LIMA ’23, found that preparations for the exhibition are proceeding smoothly with local and international exhibitors starting to bring in replicas of defence and aerospace assets and equipment in the approximately 20,000 square metres exhibition venue.
Alpine Solutions Sdn Bhd (Alpine) executive director Muhammad Aqlan Pacleb said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and several delegates were satisfied with the preparations of LIMA ’23 when they toured the exhibition location today.
As the organiser of LIMA ’23, Muhammad Aqlan said his company also received positive feedback from all parties involved by describing it as ‘different from others’.
“I had the opportunity to meet with local residents, exhibitors and stakeholders such as the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) and Maritime who acknowledged that this LIMA event is different from the others,” he told Bernama today.
In order to ensure LIMA ’23 goes on smoothly this time with the uncertain weather conditions, Muhammad Aqlan said his team will make some changes in terms of the schedule for air or maritime shows.
“If the weather does not permit (rain), we will continue the programme with only a slight change, for example the aerobatic show will be timed such that instead of two performances (scheduled) it may be extended according to the weather,” he said.
MAF previously confirmed that five countries will participate in aerobatic teams at the air show, namely Indonesia, China, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
LIMA ’23 themed ‘The Nexus of Asia’s Maritime and Aerospace Trade’ will start tomorrow until May 27, with aerospace-related exhibitions held at MIEC while the maritime segment is at Resort World Langkawi.
This edition of the exhibition involves two ministries, namely the Ministry of Defence (for the Defence Industry) and the Ministry of Transport (Commercial).
The biennial exhibition was last held in 2019 and was postponed to 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world at that time. – BERNAMA
