Turkish defense firm inks flurry of agreements at int’l fair in Malaysia

By Goksel Yildirim

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish defense firm Havelsan signed several agreements with Southeast Asian companies at an international fair in Malaysia, its general manager said on Thursday.

“The (Malaysian) prime minister and various ministers visited our stand. Together, we signed several goodwill agreements,” Mehmet Akif Nacar told Anadolu at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition, being held in northwestern Malaysia on May 23-27.

The agreements that Havelsan signed with Malaysian and Indonesian companies, as well as the National Defence University of Malaysia included deals on critical infrastructure and facility security, command and control, simulation systems, combat management systems, and cybersecurity.

Nacar said that one of the agreements was about homeland security, while another was about simulation work.

“We see here that work on producing helicopter simulators has accelerated,” he said, adding that IT projects are making progress in Malaysia besides national and cyber security.

Malaysian Premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was briefed about Havelsan’s products and services at the company’s stand, also attended the signing ceremony of the deals, alongside Türkiye’s ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, Emir Salim Yuksel.

“With our local stakeholders, we talked about subjects in which we could transfer technology,” Nacar said.

Underlining that Havelsan had “great expectations” from the Southeast Asian region, he said that besides Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other nations were “friends and allies with whom we can cooperate.”

The company also signed another agreement on combat management systems with a side in Indonesia, Nacar said, adding that Havelsan interested in Naval projects with Malaysia.

*Writing by Necva Tastan in Istanbul