LANGKAWI: Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan has asked for the exhibition centre where the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition is held to be expanded.
This, he said, was to accommodate more exhibitors.
The defence minister said he wants the Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) to ensure a bigger exhibition space for Lima 2025.
"We need the premises expanded because we had to turn away some companies that wanted to come in, even at the last minute. There is not enough space to meet the demand here.
"In order to accommodate more companies, we need to expand because we don't want to put them in a separate tent somewhere," he told reporters after the closing ceremony for Lima 2023, the 16th edition of the biennial show.
Lima '23 was jointly closed by Mohamad and Transport Minister Anthony Loke, the two ministries under them having organised it together.
Present was former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose vision brought Lima about in 1991.
Mohamad said, though the dates for Lima '25 had yet to be set, early notices would be sent out to companies intending to take part so that more can be brought in.
He said participation in Lima was growing each time it was held and with maritime companies also moved to MIEC, the space available needs to be much more.
"This year we moved maritime companies here. It's different from previous years when we had exhibition halls in the maritime segment (in Resorts World Langkawi).
"It is easier for (trade) visitors as they can just come to one place, so we put them all under one roof. Also, a lot of companies (have interests in both aerospace and maritime), for instance, in the communications (field)," he said.
Mohamad said he was happy with Lima in terms of the number of exhibitors (525 companies) and the number of assets on display, including the aerobatics teams.
He said he was also happy with the business-matching aspect of it all as a total of nearly RM18 billion worth of deals were signed, the bulk of which, amounting to RM10.128 billion, had to do with the Defence Ministry alone.
"I am also happy with the number of visitors, and not just (trade visitors and VIPs) from abroad. Yesterday (Friday), we had about 90,000 members of the public come here, based on ticket sales.
"Today, well, you can see for yourselves how busy it is."
Organisers believe the two public days will see a total of 250,000 visitors.
Mohamad said he had spoken to various companies from abroad who had been at Lima '23 and they all said they were happy with the number of people from other companies they could meet, not just from Malaysia but other countries.
"They all intend to come back in 2025," he said.
The date for Lima '25, however, has not been set and Mohamad said there were many things that needed to be considered before the date can be finalised.
It is understood that the government is looking to bring Lima back to its usual date, some time in March.
However, one thing that needs to be considered is to coincide the show with the school holidays and since there is still uncertainty over when the school year in 2025 would start, this is seen as a problem.