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The "anniversary" 10th DEFENDORY defence exhibition, held as usual in Athens on 6-10 October, was the largest event in the series since 1988, and easily the best and most successful one in many, many years. While two years ago DEFENDORY appeared to be caught in the pincer of declining defence expenditures worldwide and the competition by other shows in the Middle East and South East Asia, and there were reasons to be rather skeptical about its future, the 1998 event has provided a formidable boost.
The brilliant success of the 10th DEFENDORY was due not so much to the organisation (which was impeccable, but this is nowadays the normal state of affairs at DEFENDORY) but, rather, to the evolution of the Greek market. If all the programmes and projects as contained in the current EMPAE (1996-2002) six-year defence modernisation and expansion programme law were to become progressively true (and all current indications suggest that this will actually be the case), then Greece is to emerge as one of the most attractive national defence markets worldwide.
The tantalising perception of a promising Greek domestic market is having a formidable impact on the attitude by the exhibitors. While until a recent past, most industries attended DEFENDORY "just to be there", now very many companies are chasing significant contracts which are expected to be granted over the next few months or couple of years. Needless to say, this makes a lot of a difference, and has suddenly catapulted DEFENDORY into the same category as national shows such as IDEX, which are 100% oriented towards the local customers.
By the same token, the organisers of DEFEN DORY were quick to perceive this changed attitude, and to react by implementing a radical change in their "sales pitch" for the exhibition. DEFENDORY was originally heralded as an event "at the crossroad of three continents," and with the implicit suggestion that this provided a "window" towards the Arab market; but this claim did lose much of its appeal with the emergence of IDEX, TRIDEX and the Dubai Air Show. At the opening press conference for this year's event, however, it was claimed that DEFENDORY's two key points are a) to allow industry to follow the evolution of the Greek programmes, and...