ANKARA: High-Tech Port by MÜSİAD, a defense industry fair organized by the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD), will be held in Qatar from Oct. 6-8. The closed-door fair will bring together 67 of Turkey’s leading defense systems producer companies.
High-Tech Port General Coordinator Hakan Kurt said the fair will make Qatar function as a bridge in the region in terms of the defense industry, adding that Turkey can reach a trade volume of $5 billion in the Gulf region over the next decade and of $20 billion over the next two decades. These are achievable figures, said Kurt, referring to the fact that Saudi Arabia spends $61 billion on defense and defense expenditures in the Gulf region amount to $100 billion in total.
Meanwhile, Turkey will introduce its national plane called TRJet for the first time during the fair and is on the verge of receiving orders to produce these planes.
According to Kurt’s statements, BMC will deliver 30 hedgehogs, Turkish-made Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, in December. “The Turkish defense industry will grow rapidly in the Kuwaiti, Qatari and Saudi markets with its great projects,” Kurt added.
Underlining that Turkey has marketable products now, Kurt said Qatar will function as a bridge for Turkey to open up to the Gulf region as a country that has a $200 billion economy and manages $2 billion worth of funds. The Turkish defense industry has lost $2.5 billion worth of its exports in Gulf countries because of Turkey’s stance in foreign politics, Kurt said. However, Kurt added, Turkey’s diplomatic relations with Turkey have started to improve with King Salman ascending to the Saudi throne.
A total of 67 Turkish companies, including BMC, ASELSAN, HAVELSAN, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), ROKETSAN and Turkish Technic will participate in the fair that features defense industry, aerospace, marine systems, information technologies and engineering. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, MÜSİAD Head Nail Olpak and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani will attend the fair that will also host the Qatari Ministry of Defense, the Qatari Armed Forces, the Qatari Ministry of Interior and Qatar’s independent telecommunications regulator ictQATAR.
