Welcoming speech by the Minister of State Authority for Military Industry to guests and participants of the 10th International Military Exhibition MILEX 2021

On behalf of the organizing committee of the 10th International Exhibition of Arms and Military Machinery «MILEX-2021» and the Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus (SAMI), I am pleased to welcome you and honoured to invite to the capital of the Republic of Belarus — Minsk for participation in the international arms show, which takes place from 23 to 26 June 2021 for the tenth time on the hospitable Belarusian land.

This is the first major international event in the Republic of Belarus to be held in the country after the introduction of restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The MILEX exhibition has always been distinguished by the high level of organization, success and foreign partner countries’ interest in it. This specialized weapons salon, the largest in the Eastern European region, is a clear demonstration of the intellectual power and huge potential of the military-industrial complex of the Republic of Belarus and brings together representatives of the country’s leading developers and manufacturers of military products, their partners and guests from abroad.

The exhibition is traditionally visited by high-level government delegations, heads of military and defenceindustrial departments of the exporting and importing countries of Belarusian military equipment and weapons, representatives of the expert and business community. The largest exhibition venue in the country, the Minsk Arena, displays a wide range of exhibits, including innovative developments of Belarusian gunsmiths, which today are able to compete with foreign counterparts in a number of areas of development of weapons systems. Due to their high quality, reliability and technical characteristics, many of the samples of weapons and military equipment presented here are in great demand on the world market and contribute to increasing the export opportunities of the Belarusian defence industry.

Today, the military-industrial complex of Belarus is an important high-tech sector of the domestic economy, which largely determines the country’s image in the international arena. I am sure that the international nature of the Minsk arms show creates unique opportunities for its participants and specialists to study the arms market and further develop international military-technical cooperation, promote modern technologies and services, discuss its industrial, intellectual and legal components, get to know each other better and develop, as a result, a sense of trust in a partner, open up new opportunities for expert communication between representatives of government, industry, science and customers represented by special (law enforcement agencies) and civil consumers in the field of security, discuss promising industrial cooperation projects, exchange best practices and launch joint initiatives and projects of tomorrow, supporting them with 
signed contracts.

We are waiting for you in Minsk and hope for fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation!

The Chairman of the State Military-Industrial Committee 
of the Republic of Belarus
Dmitry Pantus