WEDNESDAY-5TH DECEMBER 2007-300 TO BE TRAINED IN SCOTLAND TO BUILD NAVY FRIGATES

300 to be trained in Scotland to build navy frigates
LANGKAWI:
About 300 workers from various disciplines will be sent to Scotland soon to be trained to build frigates for the Royal Malaysian Navy, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said yesterday. He said the technical specifications for the two frigates had been finalised and this included the missile system. “There is complexity in signing the agreements to finalise the contract of constructing the frigates. We are still fine-tuning the proposal and the final cost is subject to negotiations,” he said after touring the maritime section of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (Lima) 2007 exhibition, here. Najib, who is the Defence Minister, said the frigates would be built in Malaysia. On Lima 2007, he said the quality of product presentation and the layout in both the maritime and aerospace sections had improved, with mixed participation of defence and civilian products. Najib said a lot of civilian products had come to the forefront at this Lima, giving a good sign of the industry as well. “My wish list is very long but affordability list is quite short. We have to look at the midterm review (of the Ninth Malaysia Plan) on how much allocation we can get,” he said in reply to a question on whether the good products presentation had kindled an interest in him, particularly in terms of national defence. - Bernama