REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Turkey has invited Indonesia to cooperate in the defense industry and arms equipment domains by involving strategic partners in the country.
"Firstly, Turkey must involve our domestic defense industry, and secondly, it must build cooperation in research and development," Indonesia's Minister of Industry Saleh Husein said after receiving a Turkish government delegation here on Monday.
Turkey, the minister said, must prove its seriousness by taking these two concrete steps as these are linked with Indonesia's national interests.
He said international cooperation could spur existing national defense industries and boost the use of local components.
Research and development activities reflect a long-term cooperation vision besides promoting technology transfer and joint production in line with Indonesian military needs, he said.
"Several countries are already cooperating with defense industries in the country, such as PT PAL (ship building), Pindad (arms industry) and LEN (electronics), proving our capabilities. Turkey certainly knows it and, therefore, is approaching Indonesia. The only condition for cooperation is that it must come up with proposals that also benefit Indonesia," he said.
Pindad, the minister said, has cooperated with arms system company from Belgium, CMI Defense, and a missile company from Sweden, SAAB Dynamics AG.
Similarly, for maintenance and modification of Indonesian military (TNI) equipment, Pindad which is a state-owned company based in Bandung, West Java, has also cooperated with RLS from Germany.
PT PAL Indonesia, also a state-owned company based in Surabaya, East Java, meanwhile is involved in joint production activity with Dutch Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding. It is a missile escort destroyer project.
Besides cooperating with domestic industries, the minister said he had encouraged cooperation in the field of research and development by involving the ministry of research, technology and various universities, the ministry of state enterprises and the ministry of defense to undertake research and development.
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