ABOUT US$1 BILLION WORTH OF CONTRACTS SEALED AT SECOND DAY OF LIMA

From Nor Baizura Basri

LANGKAWI (Malaysia), Dec 2 (Bernama) -- The Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2009) saw RM3.4 billion (about US$1 billion) worth of contracts sealed at the second day Wednesday.

The deals were between the Malaysian government and private sector companies
both foreign and local, as well as between local and foreign companies.

Prime Minister Najib Razak witnessed the signing of all the deals.

The government, through the Defence Ministry (MINDEF) signed seven
memoranda of agreements and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with four local
companies namely Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd, Aerotree Defence and Services
Sdn Bhd, Ikramatic Synergy Sdn Bhd and Star Fest Sdn Bhd and three foreign
companies.

The foreign companies were MBDA France, DCNS France and SAAB Avitronics of
South Africa.

"The contract with the local companies is worth RM949.6 million for training
simulators, spares and missile systems upgrade while the foreign companies
contracts were worth RM321.3 million," said the Defence Ministry in a statement
issued here. (US$1=RM3.38)

Meanwhile, the MoU signed was for cooperation in the Malaysian Defence and
Security Technology Park in Sungkai, Perak between MINDEF and Masterplan
Consulting Sdn Bhd.

The contracts between local and international companies meanwhile involved
two contracts, one memorandum of agreement and three MoU. The value of these
contracts amounted to RM2.2 billion.

One of the deals involved Composite Technology Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd
securing contracts worth over RM1 billion from Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) Ltd,
which among others was for the manufacture and supply of wing composites
components for Airbus A350XWB.
-- BERNAMA