Friday, March 31, 2006

UK OFFERS DEFENSE INDUSTRIES IN MIDEAST

original

AMMAN [MENL] -- Britain has offered to establish defense industries for major clients in the Middle East.

Officials said Britain's Defence Ministry has briefed Middle East and other countries of the prospect of developing an indigenous defense industrial infrastructure. Under the proposal, Britain would provide training, transfer technology and help build a core of local specialists that could manage and develop defense projects.

"We see it as a big selling point for the UK," Air Marshal Gavin Mackay, senior adviser for the British Defence Ministry, said in an interview. "We recognize that we can't sail in somewhere, sell them kit, take the money and run."

Officials said the ministry's Defence Export Services Organisation has offered defense industrial proposals to such Middle East countries as Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They said Britain has already transferred defense technology and expertise to these Arab League states as part of major projects.

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