MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax-AVN) - Over 250 Russian and foreign companies have submitted applications for participating in the arms show to be held in Nizhny Tagil next month.
"As of June 17, over 250 Russian and foreign companies submitted applications for participating in the Nizhny Tagil-2004 arms, ammunitions and materiel exhibition, of which 230 companies come from 29 regions of Russia, 13 companies from the CIS member- states, and over 10 companies from other foreign countries. It is almost 1.5 times more than at the previous exhibition," Alexei Vorobyov, chairman of the Sverdlovsk region's government, told at a Thursday news conference in Moscow in response to a question from Interfax-Military News Agency.
He maintained that the show's status has improved this year, as it became an international one. According to him, its main advantage is the possibility to demonstrate armament and materiel not only at stands, but also at the proving ground, which is over 50 km long and over 5 km wide.
Addressing the question of Interfax-AVN, Vorobiov said that the regional government considers the exhibition a good opportunity to demonstrate the weapons developed in the region and find potential clients.
He added that the show is self-supporting and payable, although it requires certain capital investment into construction of roads and so on.
According to Vorobyov, enterprises of the Middle Urals have fulfilled a total of USD1bn worth of export contracts for the past four years, which makes up approximately 10 percent of the output of the region's industry. The export volume of military products has increased almost 2.5 times for the same period.