May 27 marks the end of the 16th Langkawi Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition, LIMA 2023, the biennial event being one of the largest maritime and aerospace exhibitions in the Asia-Pacific.
A total transaction value of RM17.6 billion has been recorded at the end of the event, involving the defense and commercial sector. Out of the amount, RM10.128 billion were attributed to 20 contract documents, 21 letters of acceptance, and 2 letters of intent.
These also involved several purchases of defense assets by the Ministry Of Defense. Among the significant agreements were three MoUs involving the Ministry of Transport, Malaysian fire and rescue department, Malaysian airports fire and rescue services, the Air Accident Investigation Bureau and the police.
The purpose of these MoUs were to improve compliance with the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation as well as enhance cooperation during aircraft accidents and incident investigations.
According to official figures, 600 companies from 30 nations participated in the event. 110 ships and 110 aircrafts were exhibited there, witnessed by 410 foreign VVIPs from 60 nations and 250,000 public visitors.
“LIMA’23 has most definitely fulfilled its objectives, based on the KPIs that were set. It is by far the biggest in terms of the number of participating companies, where we managed to attract some 600 companies,” said LIMA Managing Director Anita Jacobson.
Another notable factor is the percentage of international companies, which was also the most since LIMA’s inception back in 1991. 70% of the participating companies were foreign whilst the remaining 30% were local exhibitors.
“The fact that there were 18 international pavilions including Australia, China, Czech, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, South Korea, Turkiye, United Kingdom, United States, United Arab Emirates and more, is proof of how international an event LIMA has become,” she added.
By sector, there was a good mix of commercial exhibitors accounting for 40% of the total participants, whilst 60% remained focused on the defense sector. In terms of segment, there was also a balanced mix of aerospace and maritime companies.
“Another KPI which was achieved was how internationally promoted LIMA was this year, where we had an all time record breaking attendance on international media totaling 179 media members representing 100 international media houses,” said Anita.
And for the first time ever in the history of the LIMA series, not 3 or 4, but 5 aerobatic teams came to show off their air display skills. Besides that, LIMA introduced for the first time ever “the Spacetech Nexus” feature where special focus was given to Space Technologies.
Towards the future, the organisation is looking towards reimagining the LIMA brand so that it will carry the following sub brands under the big title LIMA:
a) LIMA Aviation.
b) LIMA Maritime.
c) LIMA Space.
d) LIMA Security (with special focus on Cybersecurity).
*We want to manifest the uniqueness that LIMA carries both Aerospace and Maritime where, nowhere else in the world does this. We also see the potential of expanding the commercial sector with the full support of the Ministry of Transport and their agencies,” said Anita.
LIMA seeks to have more Middle East participation, such as pavilions from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and more. The organisation is already working with the U.S Embassy to bring in a much bigger U.S pavilion.
