Following success of joint warship project, Türkiye to cooperate more with friendly countries

Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz points to success of Türkiye’s defense industry exports, speaking after launch of final MILGEM warship in Pakistan

Türkiye said Thursday that it would continue to increase its cooperation with friendly countries, including Pakistan, which has worked with Ankara on a joint warship project called MILGEM.

“In the coming years, we will continue to enhance our cooperation capacity with Pakistan and other friendly countries through new projects,” Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said in the Pakistani city of Karachi after attending the launching ceremony of the PNS TARIQ, the fourth and final ship built under MILGEM.

Speaking to Anadolu and Turkish public broadcaster TRT after the event at the Karachi Shipyard, which he attended with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Yilmaz said Türkiye and Pakistan have historical relations and a common vision for the future.

Recalling that two of the four MILGEM warships were built in Türkiye and the other two in Pakistan, Yilmaz said the vessels are very important, adding that Türkiye, as it is among the top 10 countries in the world able to build warships, had now shared some its experience with a friendly country.

This cooperation clearly showed the two countries’ friendship and brotherhood, he noted.

Yilmaz said MILGEM’s success will bring new projects for two countries, in aviation and land forces, as well as naval.

Türkiye had become an exporter in the defense industry, rather than buying other countries’ products, he stressed, while adding that its annual target for this year was $6 billion in exports and $10 billion by 2028.

This, Yilmaz underlined, was up from just over $200 million two decades ago.