Russia's exposition was the biggest of all, and demonstrated the vast opportunities of its military-industrial complex, he said to Novosti.
Indonesia regards this impressive participation as testifying to the utmost respect for it, and attaches tremendous importance to bilateral military-technological partnership, with its tremendous potential, our interviewee emphatically added.
The INDO DEFENCE 2004 is an excellent starting point to resume full-fledged Russian-Indonesian military-technological partnership, which emerged in the 1960s, says Mikhail Bely, Russian Ambassador to Indonesia.
The INDO DEFENCE has come up as a first Indonesian arms show since an economic crisis of 1997-98. Russia had 24 corporate exhibitors for it-companies on its military-industrial complex under the aegis of the Rosoboronexport, Russia's sole government mediator for military-oriented exports. That number alone indicated an awareness of how important and promising that part of the world was to Russia, pointed out the ambassador.
The Indonesian top was enthusiastic to see universally acclaimed companies among the Russian exhibitors-suffice it to mention the Sukhoi aircraft R&D bureau and the Moscow-based Salute engineering works.
As Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono was visiting the Russian pavilion, no exhibits interested him more than Salute samples, stressed Mr. Bely.
"So, as I see it, our participation in the show offers a good basis to carry on negotiations on topics of shared interest," he concluded.
Mr. Bely refused to offer whatever details of the talks - it is common practice in military-technological partnership not to make contracts public before the purchased produce is entirely supplied.
