Turkey hopes for major defense export deal with Saudi Arabia: Defense minister

ANKARA

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Turkey hopes to sign a major defense export deal with Saudi Arabia, Defense Minister Fikri Işık said on April 26, describing the potential deal as one of the biggest for the country’s defense industry.

“We plan a deal with Saudi Arabia, which will be the largest export agreement of our defense industry,” Işık said at a conference for defense and aviation industry exporters in Ankara, as quoted by Reuters. 

He noted that Turkey hoped to reach an agreement over the deal soon, but he gave no further details.

“We should see that there have been some financing problems with our potential export markets. In a bid to overcome this, we have been working on a new system that is based on barter,” Işık added. 

He also stated that Turkey should “create strong medium-sized defense companies.” 

The most successful defense exporters of 2016 were awarded at the sector event, with TAI being given the top award.