BRIDEX 2011 will be bigger, better

This year's exhibition has exceeded expectations, says head of RBTS

BRIDEX organisers are already preparing for the next event in 2011, which promises to be bigger in scale, following this year's exhibition which has "gone beyond their expectations".

Some 34 companies have registered with Royal Brunei Technical Services (RBTS) for the next edition of BRIDEX in 2011, said Lt Col (Rtd) Amir Hamzah Hj Hanafi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Royal Brunei Technical Services, yesterday.

The CEO and BRIDEX exhibition director said that the number of companies which signed up for 2011 will already be taking up half of the space at the BRIDEX building, which has a total exhibition space of 10,000 square metres.

"The next one will definitely be bigger and better, but in terms of the number of exhibitors, we will still limit their numbers up to no more than 250 exhibitors because we still want to maintain the exclusivity of the show," said Lt Col (Rtd) Amir during a press conference yesterday.

"2011 will be a very interesting year for BRIDEX because it will coincide with the golden anniversary of the armed forces."

The CEO said that expansion of the building has been taken into consideration, including building another hall.

"This means that interested companies will be taking a much bigger space for the next event compared to this year."

The decision for expansion was made due to the overwhelming responses by the delegates, exhibitors, trade visitors and the public on the overall success of BRIDEX 2009.

"The delegates were very impressed with the show, it's very well organised and all things taken care of, from their visit programme to the travel to the accommodation and more importantly, the courtesy calls on various senior officials at the Ministry of Defence.

"The exhibitors were overwhelmed with how the event has been planned and organised. Most importantly, they have met their expectations for the delegate traffic. That is one of the key indicators to a successful event.

He added that public response has also been positive. "You can really see the smiles on their faces during their visit.

"They enjoyed the demonstrations, and the exhibition educates them with the latest technologies in the defence industry and obviously it's a good recruiting campaign for the armed forces," said the CEO.

Lt Col (Rtd) Amir said that the military demonstrations were one of the event's key highlights and there would be more air, sea and ground displays in 2011.

"We have also received strong commitment from several naval forces whereby they will be bringing in more ships for the next demonstration."

In addition, a special competition among the naval forces will be organised which would further strengthen the ties and relationship between the countries.

"But at the same time, we don't want the demonstrations to be too grand as we want to ensure that the exhibitors will not be lost in the crowd."

He said that RBTS has already surpassed this year's expectations. "At first, no one actually thought that we are able to organise such a huge event as we are simply a procurement agency for the government, but through teamwork and good leadership, we managed to make the event possible."

Promoting the exhibition was also a challenge due to the ongoing global financial crisis and the H1N1 pandemic, but "we ourselves were surprised that the entire exhibition space was taken up", he said.

"Overall, BRIDEX 2009 is a huge success, and we're all looking forward to BRIDEX 2011 in a big way," he concluded.The Brunei Times