Turkish and Indonesian defense industry companies are like sugar and water, they can blend very well. I hope that the two countries can enhance their cooperation and broaden the spectrum, Indonesia’s Ambassador to Ankara Lalu Muhamad Iqbal told defensehere on Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with defensehere at the international defense industry fair (IDEF 2021) his excellency Dr. Muhamad Iqbal said that they consider IDEF to be very important for Indonesia, that is why there are many Indonesian companies which are participating.
"We are not only coming here only as an observer, we aren’t only coming here as a potential buyer, but we are coming here also as a producer,” Iqbal said.
“As you know the defense industry in Indonesia is also growing in the last few years, because we know that in the end as a big country, we need to prepare ourselves to have a self-supplying to our forces,” he said, continued:
“In that context we need partners, and this is one of the best venues for us to find partners. Partners in developing our products and also in developing new products, which will suit the needs of different countries.”
Referring to PT Pindad, an Indonesian armored vehicles manufacturer that joined IDEF, Iqbal said that PT Pindad are just finishing their product with FNSS from Turkey and he noted that they are producing a medium tank which its factory testing has been finished last week and he added that the tanks are ready for serial production.
“Turkish companies and Indonesian companies are like sugar and water, so they can blend very well, they can find the chemistry,” Iqbal said.
“I have a good impression from the testimony from Indonesian companies; when they are working with Turkish companies, they find easier to find chemistry, because it is very important for long test cooperation,” he emphasized
Touching on Turkish-Indonesian relations, Iqbal said I hope that the two countries can enhance their cooperation and broaden the spectrum.
“Now the joint production is only done by FNSS and PT Pindad, I hope in the future maybe in the aerospace industry which is related to the military and some other areas will be developed I think, because the potential is there, the two countries are big countries and major powers in their own region, so cooperation between the two countries will be very beneficial both countries,” he added.
