Govt inks contracts worth RM 17.8 billion at NATSEC 2018
KUALA LUMPUR: The government, through the Home Affairs Ministry and the Defence Ministry, has inked eight contracts, three memoranda of understanding (MoU), 11 letters of acceptances and a letter worth RM17.8 billion at the International Exhibition of National Security for Asia (NATSEC 2018) held in conjunction with Defence Services Asia 2018 (DSA 2018) yesterday.
Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, said the deals indicated the government’s readiness to allocate funds to optimise national security, as well as its continuous commitment to protect the country’s sovereignty without compromise.
“Most of the contracts were contributed by six offset programmes, which were valued approximately RM14.4 billion,” he told reporters at the signing ceremony yesterday.
“These offset programmes are the best alternative approach for a heightened national defence capacity, where the Defence Ministry obtains the latest in advanced defence technology from a number of renowned defence economies, as well as technology and knowledge transfer to local industries in creating engineering competencies to reduce reliance on original equipment manufacturers,” said Hishammuddin.
Meanwhile, two MoUs were inked between the Defence Ministry and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) as well as Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) to create competent army personnel, which involves 165 UPNM officers and 45 UKM officers.
Hishammuddin said these signings were due to the continuing camaraderie between the Defence and Home ministries following the success in executing several National Blue Ocean Strategy programmes.
In conjunction with the event, there were also the signing of an agreement between Japanese and Malaysian governments on defence equipment and technology transfer, which was signed by Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia, Dr Makio Miyagawa, and Defence Ministry Secretary General, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi.