Prabowo Discusses Defense Cooperation With Turkey, One Of Which Is Unmanned Aircraft

Prabowo Subianto (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto returned to Turkey on July 22-24, 2020 to discuss further defense cooperation between the two countries.

Reported by Antara, Friday, July 24, during his stay in Turkey, Prabowo met with the Chairman of the Turkish Defense Industry Presidency (SSB) Ismail Demir.

"This visit is to follow up on his previous visit. There is nothing new, ”said Indonesian Ambassador to Turkey Lalu Muhamad Iqbal.

During the last 10 years, Indonesia-Turkey relations in the defense sector and the defense industry have been very good.

This year, said Iqbal, Turkish manufacturer FNSS will begin joint production of the Tiger / Kaplan medium tank class with PT PINDAD.

"The tank is the result of joint development between the two companies over the years," said Iqbal.

Meanwhile, through an upload on his Twitter account, Chairman of the Presidency of Defense Industry (SSB) Ismail Demir said that he and Prabowo, "exchanged views on cooperation and export issues in various fields, especially drones, sea and land vehicles".

Endonezya Savunma Bakanı Prabowo Subianto ve beraberindeki heyet ile toplantı gerçekleştirdik.Toplantıda, başta İHA'lar, deniz ve kara araçları olmak üzere çeşitli alanlarda işbirliği ve ihracatıveri üşinde gunduk. 🇹🇷🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/WjywPmCh2p

- Ismail Demir (@IsmailDemirSSB) July 22, 2020

Apart from discussing defense cooperation, Prabowo also reportedly visited the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry stated that, "The two countries will conduct a study to increase the share of agriculture in the targeted trade volume of 10 billion US dollars".

'' Indonesia's Minister of Defense Mr. Prabowo Subianto and his delegation visited our Ministry. Both countries will carry out studies to increase the share of agriculture within targeted trade volume of 10 billion dollars. "Pic.twitter.com/bRejntuGYn

- MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY (@MAFTurkey) July 22, 2020

Since taking office as Defense Minister in October 2019, Prabowo has visited Turkey twice to discuss defense cooperation. The visit will take place in November 2019 and July this year.

Recently, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has appointed Minister of Defense Prabowo as the head of the national food barn project in Central Kalimantan because food is considered an important part of national defense.