JAKARTA, Indonesia: Turkish and Indonesian defence companies have signed an agreement to jointly develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for military use in the Southeast Asian country.
The agreement in this regard was signed during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Indonesia.
The deal was signed by Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of Baykar Technology, and Norman Joesoef, CEO of Indonesian defence company Republikor.
Erdogan arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday to co-chair the inaugural meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto. This council serves as a platform for state-level negotiations between the two countries.
“Indonesia and Turkiye will also strengthen our defence and security cooperation, including education and training for our armed forces, intelligence partnership and counter-terrorism efforts. We also agreed to increase our cooperation and joint production in the defence industry,” Prabowo said during a joint press conference.
Baykar drones, especially the unmanned aerial combat vehicle TB2, gained international recognition after being deployed by Ukraine’s military against Russian forces during the war in 2022.
Indonesia and Turkiye also agreed to speed up negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or CEPA, to boost bilateral trade, worth about $2.4 billion in 2024.
“We considered it important to enhance our cooperation across various fields,” Erdogan said. “We will work toward increasing our annual bilateral trade to $10 billion with balanced values. We are committed to doing all things necessary to realise this commitment,” he said.
