A decision by Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar and Indonesia to jointly develop and produce weapons systems marks a major push to reduce reliance on Western armaments that come with political strings attached, observers say.
Following the signing of the Badr memorandum of understanding in Doha on Wednesday, the four governments separately said they would work towards integrating their defence industries and supply chains to meet military needs.
“By leveraging the capabilities of each country in the field of military production, cooperation and integration will be achieved, defence industry capacities will be developed, and the needs of allied and friendly nations can thus be met,” Turkey’s Ministry of Defence said.