SAMP/T launcher - ©Eurosam
President Erdoğan's first visit abroad in
2018 was marked by a groundbreaking defense agreement that includes the joint
development of missile systems by Turkish, French and Italian firms, among
other commercial and economic deals
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's first visit abroad in
2018 covered the maximization of efforts to develop Turkey's ties with its
European partners by enhancing economic, commercial and defense ties.
His visit to France on Friday marked an extraordinary
step in strengthening Turkey's efforts to enhance and speed up its domestic
defense system. The negotiations in France brought closer defense cooperation
with France and Italy as Turkey awarded a long-range air missile system
development and production project to French-Italian consortium Eurosam and its
Turkish partners Aselsan and Roketsan.
Eurosam, the industrial prime contractor and system
design authority for the development, production, marketing and sales of a
range of medium and long-range naval and ground-launched air-defense missiles,
announced on the sidelines of a meeting in Paris between Erdoğan and French
President Emmanuel Macron, that it will lay the ground for a development and
production contract. The three-country missile program is expected to be ready
by the middle of the next decade to safeguard against threats from stealth
aircraft, drones and missiles.
In a statement, Eurosam said: "The joint development
activity is expected to support Turkey's domestic air and missile development
program in addition to opening up prospects for exports and longer-term
cooperation between Turkey, Italy and France."
Speaking at the joint press conference, President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan emphasized the centuries-long bilateral ties between Turkey and
France. He said that the meetings as part of the visit resulted in a number of
economic, commercial and defense agreement and particularly noted the Eurosam
agreement, stressing that bilateral ties have strengthened more with these
meetings.
"The Eurosam agreement is a very significant step.
As two members of NATO, we are determined to broaden our cooperation," the
president said, adding NATO member Italy is also a member of the agreement.
"Now, it is time to act on the agreement immediately
and accelerate the process to start production," Erdoğan said.
Elaborating on the Turkish-French military partnership to
fight against terrorism, Erdoğan said that the agreement to jointly develop a
missile system will further enhance defense cooperation. "The missile
development agreement that was signed today will further broaden the
Turkish-French defense partnership."
Established in June 1989 by three major European
aerospace companies, the Eurosam consortium is made up of European missile
maker MBDA, itself a joint venture between Airbus and Italy's Leonardo and
Britain's BAE Systems, and French defense contractor Thales, whose main
shareholders are the French state and fighter jet maker Dassault Aviation.
Eurosam's surface-to-air missile platform/terrain
(SAMP/T) Aster 30 long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems are already
in use in several NATO member countries.
On Nov. 8, Turkey signed the joint Eurosam consortium
agreement with the Italian and French defense ministers in an
inter-governmental agreement at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The project with
Eurosam, the producer of SAMP/T and Aster 30 long-range SAM systems, will
strengthen defense ties between the three countries in general and particularly
in air and missile defense.
The SAMP/T Aster 30 system uses a network of
sophisticated radars and sensors, including 3-D phased array radar, enabling it
to be highly effective against all types of air threats. The system can
intercept missiles with a 600-kilometer range and can operate in standalone
mode or can be integrated in a coordinated network such as the NATO missiles
defense system.
Turkey's Aselsan and Roketsan have been developing the
Low Altitude Air Defense Missile System (HİSAR-A) and the Medium Altitude Air
Defense Missile System (HİSAR-O) using national resources to meet the low- and
medium-altitude air defense needs of the Turkish Land Forces Command. The
Hisar-A will be completed by 2020, and the medium-range defense system's
prototype will be completed by 2021.
Macron also said he and Erdoğan held discussions on the
Sinop Nuclear Power Plant.
Turkey's second nuclear power plant will be built by a
French-Japanese consortium in Sinop, near the Black Sea.
As stipulated by the agreement, Turkey Electricity
Generation Company (EÜAŞ) will hold a 49 percent stake in the plant while
Japan's MHI and France's Engie will hold a share of 51 percent. The project is
estimated to cost more than $16 billion, according to Japanese sources.
The Sinop nuclear power plant will have a 4,480-megawatt
capacity of electricity generation with four reactors each with 1,120-megawatt
capacity.
Turco-French bilateral trade
France is Turkey's sixth-largest trading partner both in
imports and exports. According to information from the Turkish Statistical
Institute (TurkStat), bilateral trade between Turkey and France was $13.3 in
2015, including $6 billion in Turkish exports to France and $7.3 billion in
imports to Turkey. Turkish Exporters' Assembly data shows that Turkey's exports
to France totaled $6.3 billion in 2017.Referring to bilateral trade, Erdoğan
said that the two countries aim to increase their trade volume to 20 billion
euros. "Once Turkey and France work together, it is feasible to achieve
this figure in bilateral trade," he said. He also said that in order to
achieve 20 billion euros in bilateral trade, ministers and state bodies must
work in cooperation.
Macron stressed the strong economic ties between Turkey
and France and said that both parties have agreed to enhance bilateral trade,
starting with 5,700 tons of red meat exports to Turkey.
Among the main exports from Turkey to France are road
vehicles, clothing and accessories, electrical machinery and devices. Among the
main imports from France to Turkey are planes and air vehicles, iron and steel
products and automobile parts.
Currently, 1,366 companies with French equity operate in
Turkey in beauty, energy, food, banking, insurance, manufacturing and the
automotive industry. France is 10th in terms of the number of foreign companies
operating in Turkey. From 2002 to October 2017, French direct investments in
Turkey reached $6.9 billion. France ranks ninth in terms of foreign direct
investments in Turkey, while 47 Turkish companies are reported to operate in
France with an investment of $750 million. Turkish companies are concentrated
mainly in energy, furniture and equipment, textiles and clothing, transportation,
electrical machinery and devices, finance, plastic products, storage,
logistics, services (restoration, repair and renovation), chemical goods
(packaging), production of automobile parts, marketing of agricultural and food
products, glass and ceramics.
Moreover, Export Credit Bank of Turkey (Türk Eximbank)
and Bpifrance Assurance Export signed a comprehensive business cooperation
agreement in France Friday.
The statement also said the agreement signed by Türk
Eximbank's Adnan Yıldırım and Bprifrance Assurance Export Senior Manager
Christophe Viprey.
Macron stressed the strong economic ties between Turkey
and France and said that both parties have agreed to enhance bilateral trade,
starting with 5,700 tons of red meat exports to Turkey.
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