Mosa, where did you take that excerpt from ? Because the link you posted mentions this :
S. Arabia, Malaysia interested in Agosta
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By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Nov 16: Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have expressed interest in Pakistan's expertise for building the French-designed Agosta 90-B submarines and explored the possibilities for striking a deal in this regard.
This was stated by the naval chief, Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza while briefing newsmen on navy's efforts for self-reliance at the media centre of Ideas 2000 defence exhibition on Thursday. "We have been successful in the sale of midgets and we are also exploring the possibility of selling Agosta 90-B submarines to a regional country," he said.
Admiral Mirza added that Saudi Arabia and Malaysia were interested in the product. Qatar was also a buyer of Pakistan-built midgets, he said. Delegation of these countries visited the surface ships and submarine rebuild and manufacturing facilities at the naval dockyard. He said that any tri-lateral deal with regard to Agosta 90-B would not only boost Pakistan's image and credibility in international market, but also help in earning sizable foreign exchange, required for future development programmes of the services. A deal in this regard would also result in considerable savings for the prospective buyers, he added. Admiral Mirza said the navy was looking for regional and other
markets for its products.
He said that the second Agosta, now being built at the dockyard, would be delivered in 2002 and the third would be commissioned in 2004. Over 750 people were working on the project. Of them 500 had been trained in France, he added. As the production gathers momentum, "we will certainly go for deletions for producing spare parts, which will enable us to reduce dependence on others", the admiral said.
He said Pakistan believed in transfer of technology and told a questioner that we have paid for all the assistance on transfer of technology to France, which figured out at $1 billion and with mark-up came at $1.4 billion. It included expenses incurred on setting up of workshops and upgradation of the shipyard. Pakistan's public sector defence companies and overhaul rebuild capabilities were engaged in a wide-range of activities that could be utilized by friendly nations, he said.
Mr Mirza maintained that owing to the prevailing regional environment the outlay on defence was high and the expenditure could be off set by commercializing the defence industry and other allied sectors like training and repair/maintenance facilities. The navy, he said, had gone in a big way for indigenization in shipbuilding with Chinese assistance. He said those countries, who were using similar type of vessels, could also benefit from Pakistan's expertise for training of its personnel besides repair and maintenance of the vessels.
Replying to a question about grounding of French-built P-3 Orion reconnaissance plane, the naval chief said those were being conserved for use in emergency. He added that because of the international sanctions in 1998 there were some difficulties with regard to its spares. Therefore, it was decided to conserve our energy. "But if needed we can fly the plane," he said.
The French authorities had come under pressure from the European Union, after 1998, but that was a temporary phase which was over and "we have the best of relationship", the admiral said Responding to a question with regard to the possibility of Karachi's blockade by India the naval chief said, "we can give you assurance this situation will not arise and there is no possibility of Karachi's blockade."
He said as Pakistan could not compare ship-to-ship or man-to-man with India, the strategy, based on "selective deterrence", had given a definite edge to it in selected areas. Admiral Mirza said, Pakistan had acquired superior submarine technology, like Agosta class submarines besides ships and petrol boats, and was able to manufacture spare parts from its own expertise and those based on transfer of technology.
