New Delhi, May 23 : Defence Minister A K Antony will begin his three-day visit to Germany from Sunday.

Accompanied by a high-level official delegation, Antony will attend the International Aerospace Exhibition and Conferences - ILA 2008, popularly known as Berlin Air Show. He will also hold talks with his German counterpart Dr. Franz Josef Jung.

The Berlin Air Show is the oldest air show in the world dating back to 1909. India is participating in this leading air show as a partner country for the first time in the defence sector.

In a message to the organisers of the show, Antony said, "India's participation marks another milestone in our cooperation with leading countries and global firms in the aviation and aerospace sector."

A strong industrial base, sophisticated research and development institutions and a huge domestic market have resulted in a fast growing aviation sector in India, adding that this provides new opportunities for cooperation and strategic alliances between domestic and international partners, he said.

"India is harnessing its indigenously developed civilian space technologies as a key multiplier for development," he said.

Referring to the Indian defence sector, Antony said: "New policies to transform this sector by actively encouraging all players, whether private or public, Indian or foreign, to play a larger role in defence production through mutually beneficial partnerships, private investment and technology transfers have been put in place. Companies that proactively seek out industrial partners in India will enjoy advantages in our expanding market."

"We welcome recent commitments made by some European partners to transfer technology to Indian partners and locate production in India," the Minister added.

The Air Show provides an ideal platform for exploring business opportunities and joint ventures.

A large number of Indian companies - both public and private and defence organisations will showcase their defence-related capabilities and products at the show.

The composite India Pavilion covering 1200 square meters will witness the participation of five Defence Public Sector Undertakings namely Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
(HAL), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI); the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and five private defence industries
- TATA group of companies, Larsen & Toubro, CADES, ACCORD Software & Systems , Saraswati Dynamics.

Indicative of the importance being attached to India, a seminar on "Opportunities in the Indian Defence Sector" will be held on May 28.

The SARANG team of Indian Air Force will also give a scintillating display of its aerobatics with their helicopters.

The Air Warriors Symphony Orchestra will also perform at the show.

Germany's Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel will open the Air Show on May 27 during a 90-minute tour of the event. She will be accompanied by Antony, Michael Glos, Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, Matthias Platzeck, Minister President of the Land Brandenburg, Harald Wolf, Mayor of Berlin and Senator for Economics, Technology and Women, and Jürgen Thumann, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).

The delegation to accompany Antony includes Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Secretary Defence Production Pradeep Kumar, DG Acquisition SK Sharma, Advisor to Defence Minister Sundaram Krishna, Additional Secretary Defence Production Ajoy Acharya, Joint Secretary (Exports) Satyajit Rajan besides representatives of DPSUs.

Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh will also attend the show from May 28.

Besides attending the show, Antony will start his official engagements with a visit to the Berlin War Cemetery and pay his homage. It is the place where 51 soldiers of undivided India were laid to rest after being killed during the Second World War.

The Defence Minister will return home on May 28. (ANI)