Mohammed receives defence ministers and other officials

The air show had been kicked off on Sunday.

Yesterday, Gen. Shaikh Mohammed received Ukraine’s Industrial Policy Minister Volodymyr Shandra, who said his country was showcasing models of its heavy industry products at the exhibition.

Gen. Shaikh Mohammed then met with Dr Iyad Allawi, former Iraqi prime minister, who said the show was a reflection of a nation’s culture.

Allawi briefed the Dubai crown prince on developments in Iraq, efforts to reach national reconciliation as well as reform and reconstruction processes in his country.

Gen. Shaikh Mohammed underscored that the national unity in Iraq, with all parties there enjoying their rights and freedom, “is the shortest way to build a modern state based on justice, democracy and sovereignty.”

Later, he received Lieutenant-General Abdul Rahim M. Hussein, Sudan Defence Minister, who is leading a high-level military delegation to Dubai Air Show 2005.

Meanwhile, Gen. Shaikh Mohammed said the exhibition "is no longer a sheer trade show for profitability or commercial gains."

"It is a humanitarian gathering point where various geographically, intellectually and politically divergent cultures meet and talk," he noted.