New Delhi: Buoyed by the overwhelming participation of major global armament makers in the Defence Expo here, the government said stronger public-private partnership in defence manufacturing can propel the economy to a new high.

Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said India now has a sizeable industrial base for defence production and government will extend all possible help to private players to grow.

"The defence manufacturing has the potential to propel our economy to a great extent," Singh told the valedictory function of the DefExpo 2008.

According to Singh, there was a need for stronger public-private partnership to meet future security challenges of the country.

He said the expo has helped the country to evaluate "how far we have climbed up the ladder to be at par with other countries".

Over 30 countries participated in the fifth edition of DefExpo this year, including the USA, Russia, Israel, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and Ukraine.

Additional secretary (Defence Production) Ajay Acharya said 20 prominent agreements were signed and as many as 3,490 business queries were generated in the first three days of the exhibition.

The four-day show, which ended today, saw the participation of the world's major armament makers who are keen to bag contracts in the lucrative 30 billion dollar market.

Source : PTI