With a positive assessment after three days of intense work and after holding several meetings with international companies, the ExpoNaval 2024 delegation that traveled to Colombia to participate in the ExpoDefensa 2023 fair held in Bogota, returned to the country highlighting the commercial ties that were established and expressing their optimism regarding the global image of the Chilean exhibition.

“We were very satisfied with our presence in Colombia because we were able to reaffirm in situ the excellent valuation that anchor companies, naval authorities and decision makers from all over the world have of ExpoNaval. It was a very good expedition in every sense and a very important platform at South American level”, said Rodrigo Lobo, general manager of Fisa, a company of the GL events group that organizes the fair.

For three days, the delegation composed of Rodrigo Lobo and the manager of ExpoNaval, Rodrigo Bastidas, got to know first hand the opinion of other referents of the defense world and participated in a series of meetings with naval and defense referents. “There were exhibitors who in previous versions had not been with us and who on this occasion committed to be part of ExpoNaval. We also met with other partners who had participated before and who reaffirmed their desire to be part of our fair again, always with a great appreciation of their previous experiences. All this gives us an important boost and commits us as an organization to hold a fair of international standard”, commented Bastidas.

During the visit, the executives also had the opportunity to explore the latest innovations in defense technologies, establish key contacts and participate in high-level discussions on the challenges and opportunities in the sector. The fair – which took place at the Corferias Convention Center in Bogota from December 5 to 7, 2023 – provided an environment conducive to the exchange of ideas and the establishment of valuable business relationships.

This objective was precisely achieved after Rodrigo Lobo’s meeting with the Commander-in-Chief of the Colombian Navy, Admiral Francisco Cubides Granados. The institution confirmed its participation in Expo Naval through its shipyard COTECMAR – which has underway the Colombian Oceanic Platform (POC), the logistic vessel BAL 6012 and the Strategic Surface Platform (PES) – and the general manager of FISA OFICIAL valued the collaborative spirit of the entity.

“It was a profitable meeting with the Commander-in-Chief of the Colombian Navy, Admiral Francisco Cubides Granados, who confirmed that he would be present at next year’s edition of ExpoNaval in December. And as well as Admiral Cubides, other high authorities expressed the same position, which gave an important value to the presence of our delegation”, added Lobo.

The ExpoNaval delegation also met with representatives of Sisdef, a Chilean company that participated in Expodefensa and is considered one of the most important engineering development companies in our country, which also assured its presence at the exhibition to be held from December 3 to 6 in the port of Valparaíso.