International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC), the global provider of industry-driven conferences, will organise a regional summit to address the development of effective collaborations between military and the defence industry.

The region's only Defence Partnering and Alliances Middle East 2009 event will be held from October 11 to 14 at the Armed Forces Officer's Club in Abu Dhabi with the participation of regional and global experts.

The summit will also feature a two-day conference, one day of interactive workshops and an exclusive site visit to the shipyards of Abu Dhabi Ship Building.

"The Defence Partnering and Alliances Middle East 2009 event gives military, governments, ministries, embassies, defence contractors and solution providers an opportunity to meet regional and international key decision makers and exchange knowledge in order to return to the office with fresh perspectives and strategies to maximise the value of current defence projects,” said Zuzana Laukova, project director of defence IQ, IQPC Middle East.

The benefits of long-term partnering agreements between the military and the defence industry are numerous and allow capabilities to be advanced quickly, efficiently and economically.

However, setting up successful partnerships that deliver mutual benefits to both the military and industry partners involved is far from straight forward and the difficulties in establishing common objectives, clear performance metrics and a balance of risk can cause unacceptable delays to critical procurement programmes.

As the Middle East's defence market continues to grow and accelerate, addressing these challenges is critical. It is vital that the entire community comes together to evaluate current examples of best practice, discuss areas of concern and set the agenda for guaranteeing capability to the front-line today and for the future.

The conference will draw on real-life case studies to gain the insights necessary to drive the success of current projects in the Arabian Gulf.

Topics covered include obtaining value and advancing capability in strategic partnerships and alliances, utilising standards to meet the challenges of collaborative programmes, maintaining successful partnering relationships during the face of external commercial pressures, collaborative working in complex programmes and examining partnerships in the wider context of defence procurement and offset policies.