Türkiye-Saudi Arabia Defense Industry Days were organized in Istanbul by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), Saha Istanbul and Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI).
Haluk Görgün, Saudi Arabian Minister of State and Deputy Chairman of the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) Bandar Al-Khorayef, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Çetin Ali Dönmez and Governor of Istanbul Davut Gül, as well as Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) CEO Thamer AlMuhid, DEİK/Turkey-Saudi Arabia Business Council President Haşim Süngü and SAHA Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and ROKETSAN General Manager Murat Birinci attended the program.
In his speech here, Defense Industry President Görgün stated that Türkiye has gained significant experience in the defense industry in the last 20 years and that they aim to share this knowledge with friendly and brotherly countries and develop it with joint projects.
Görgün stated that Türkiye has created an important ecosystem in the defense industry with the will of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Stating that this ecosystem has successes and many examples reflected in the figures, Görgün noted that Türkiye has adopted the vision of developing the defense industry model by sharing it with friendly and brotherly countries.
Görgün emphasized that they continue their work in this direction within the framework of the instructions and authorities given by President Erdoğan and continued as follows:
"In the last 3 and a half years, we have been taking firm steps forward together with GAMI, SAMI and GADD (General Authority for Defense Development), which was designed in line with the 2030 vision in Saudi Arabia, with whom we share the same philosophy and carry out many projects together. In the last 3 and a half years, the number of meetings we have organized with our friends in the Presidency of Defense Industries alone, most of which I have attended, is 75. This corresponds to 25 meetings a year, coming together at least twice a month. This unity at the highest level. "It has brought very valuable results so far, but we are going through such a process that we have valuable work to do and have to do, far beyond what we have achieved so far."
Görgün stated that one of the most important goals of Saudi Arabia in the defense industry within the scope of the 2030 Vision is to produce at least 50 percent of the needed products within the country and to make the supply chain safe and strong.
Görgün stated that Turkish defense industry companies are carrying out joint work with stakeholders in Saudi Arabia in many areas in line with this goal, and said that concrete examples were put forward in the meetings held with the participation of public and private sector companies.
Görgün pointed out that the meeting held today is one of the important steps of the ongoing and future cooperation process and said:
"I would like to express once again that we are ready to take every step we can develop and take forward together with our nearly 4,500 SMEs operating in the defense industry, our more than 1400 projects, our portfolio of approximately 120 billion dollars, and every project we work on with the authority given to us by our President."
Stating that Saudi Arabia aims to establish centers of excellence in the field of defense within the framework of its 2030 Vision, Görgün stated that they held various meetings with the participation of leading Turkish companies and Saudi Arabian officials regarding the prioritization and steps towards the implementation of these centers.
Görgün stated that the Saudi Arabian side also approaches the issue determinedly and underlined that Türkiye is ready to provide the necessary contribution to achieve these goals.
"Türkiye and Saudi Arabia also cooperate on the basis of brotherhood"
Bandar Al-Khorayef, Minister of State of Saudi Arabia and Deputy Chairman of the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI), stated that they want to take the defense industry cooperation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia further by benefiting from the experiences of the two countries and said, "Turkey and Saudi Arabia cooperate not only in the field of industry, but also on the basis of brotherhood." he said.
Al-Khorayef stated that the meetings held between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia paved the way for new partnerships between the two countries.
Pointing out that the two countries act jointly in many areas, Al-Khorayef drew attention to their cooperation within the scope of the Mecca Agreement, including the G20 and Pakistan.
Emphasizing that they want to further strengthen the strategic relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Al-Khorayef said, "We want to further strengthen our relations by benefiting from the experiences and experiences of both countries, especially in the field of defense industry." he said.
Stating that the localization rate in the defense industry in the country has increased from 4 percent to 27 percent, Al-Khorayef stated that they aim to increase the localization rate in the defense industry to 50 percent within the scope of the 2030 Vision.
Al-Khorayef stated that they attach importance to cooperation with companies from different countries of the world as well as Türkiye in this process, and noted that technology transfer and benefiting from different experiences will play an important role in reaching Saudi Arabia's defense industry goals.
Emphasizing that Saudi Arabia aims to create a defense industry that can compete both locally and globally by benefiting from international experiences in technology and R&D fields, and that they want to establish long-term partnerships in this direction, Al-Khorayef said, "We want to benefit from Türkiye's experiences. We aim to further strengthen and consolidate our supply chain by creating partnerships." he said.
Stating that Saudi Arabia offers various incentives to attract more investors, Al-Khorayef noted that they aim to establish strong partnerships by bringing international and local companies together.
Stating that they aim to support the local industry and create new business opportunities for Saudi Arabian companies with these works, Al-Khorayef stated that they will continue to attract investments in different areas of the industry within the scope of the 2030 Vision.
Stating that cooperation with Turkey has an important place in this process, Al-Khorayef said, "We want to bring the knowledge of Türkiye's successful and experienced companies in the defense industry to Saudi Arabia and benefit from these experiences. With these partnerships, we aim to strengthen our defense industry and create business opportunities that will benefit both countries." made his assessment.
