On February 20, 2011 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United Arab Emirates Yuriy Polurez attended the opening ceremony of the Middle East's largest International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX 2011) which is traditionally held under the patronage of the UAE President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. This year His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President, Prime Minister, Minister of defense of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai opened the exhibition.

The work of the current exhibition and conference, taking place within it, involved more than 150 official delegations from various countries, including Ukraine. Ukrainian delegation is headed by Deputy of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelianchuk.

The largest number of participating companies was presented by the national pavilions of the UAE (169 companies), USA (112), Britain (92), France (81) and Germany (71). Companies from Azerbaijan, Estonia, Libya, Bahrain and Taiwan are participating for the first time in  «IDEX- 2011».

Organized by SC  «Ukrspecexport»  exposition displays products of the leading enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. Visitors may, in particular, review the specimens of tank  «Oplot», tank T-72B, armoured personnel carrier BTR-4 with fighting module  «Parus», BMP-1M with fighting module  «Shkval». Truck KrAZ 5233VE took part in demonstrations during the opening ceremony.