Qatar Defence Event Canceled, Malaysia’s Postponed, Farnborough Watchful Over Coronavirus

The Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) event in Qatar later this month has been canceled while the Defence Services Asia (DSA-2020) is postponed to August in view of the global spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) virus.

The DIMDEX organizers posted the following message on their website: “Following the …global concern regarding the COVID-19 outbreak ..the Organising Committee has made the difficult decision to cancel the (DIMDEX) event. Although this is an extremely important event for us, our primary concern remains the health and welfare of all residents and visitors to Qatar and for this reason the event will no longer be held.”

DIMDEX was expected to host some 200 exhibitors and an estimated 150,000 visitors.

The Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2020 and National Security (Natsec) Asia 2020, claimed as Asia’s largest defence and security exhibition scheduled for April has been canceled and a new date set as Aug 24-27. The events were initially slated for April 20-23 in Kuala Lumpur.

The events’ organiser, DSA Exhibition and Conference Sdn Bhd’s chairman Tan Sri Asmat Kamaludin said the postponement was decided following careful consideration and consultation with the ministeries of defence and home affairs, as well as the stakeholders. The events were expected to attract 1,500 participating companies from over 60 countries, some 350 VIP delegations from 30 countries and 50,000 visitors from all corners of the world.

Organizers of the biennial Farnborough Air Show, the biggest event in the global aerospace and defence events calendar asserted that the show would go on as scheduled in July, “like all responsible major event organisers, we’re mindful of the impacts of the Coronavirus; however, July’s Farnborough International Airshow is some months away. While we are paying close attention to UK Government advice, for the current time we remain focussed on planning an incredible Aerospace showcase.”

Another major event, the ILA show in Berlin during May 13-17 will go on as scheduled as of now. “We have been following the development of the coronavirus COVID-19 for several weeks and are in close contact with the responsible health authorities. The situation is developing very dynamically and it is difficult to make a conclusive assessment of the issue. However, the danger for Germany is currently classified as “moderate“. This assessment has led us to the following decision:

At ILA Berlin, we will implement the preventive measures recommended by the WHO and Robert Koch Institute:

Hand hygiene

1. Hand disinfectant dispensers will be available at all entrances and in all restrooms.
2. Cleaning and disinfection intervals will be increased, especially for handrails, door handles and other frequently used surfaces.

Rules of conduct

1. Avoid physical contact, including hugs or shaking hands.
2. Sneeze into the crook of your arm (not your hand).
3. Avoid repeated use of handkerchiefs

Meanwhile, the IATA special envoy to Africa, Raphael Kuuchi, said that the Coronavirus outbreak is expected to cost the airline industry around $29 billion in 2020. Kuuchi who was speaking at the Aviation Africa forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia today called on governments to relax taxes and charges through this crisis and called for air traffic control slot retention rules to be moderated.