DOHA (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan, Türkiye, Qatar and Indonesia are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on defence industry cooperation in Doha on Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reported.
Turkish National Defence Minister Yaşar Güler was due to leave for Qatar on Tuesday afternoon to attend the signing, according to information Anadolu obtained from officials. The full text of the memorandum has not been made public, and no official statement from Islamabad or Jakarta had been issued at the time of writing.
The agreement is framed as a memorandum on defence industry cooperation, not a mutual defence pact. TRT World reported that it aims to strengthen defence industry ties among the four countries as Qatar moves to expand its domestic defence production capabilities.
Qatar’s defence production push
The signing follows remarks by Qatar’s Minister of State for Defence Affairs, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, at the Global Security Forum in Doha on Monday. He said Qatar would soon announce plans to establish a local defence production hub, and that it was working with regional and international partners, including the United States, the United Kingdom and France, to develop domestic defence capabilities and explore investment opportunities in defence companies.
He also said Qatar would soon announce a new partnership to strengthen its capabilities against ballistic missiles, drones and cyberattacks, without giving further details.
The push comes as the war between Iran and the United States and Israel weighs on the Gulf. Qatar shut down much of its main liquefied natural gas complex at Ras Laffan shortly after hostilities began, and restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted global trade, TRT World reported.
A web of existing ties
The four-way memorandum builds on a series of bilateral relationships. Türkiye and Qatar maintain a joint military command in Doha, and in October 2025 they signed a memorandum of understanding on defence industry cooperation. Türkiye has built MILGEM corvettes for the Pakistan Navy and has signed a deal to export 48 KAAN fighter jets to Indonesia.
Qatar and Indonesia signed a memorandum in Jakarta in June and said they intended to conclude a broader defence cooperation agreement. Earlier this year, Barzan Holdings, the investment arm of Qatar’s Ministry of Defence, signed procurement contracts worth 8 billion Qatari riyals ($2.2 billion) with Indonesia’s Defence Ministry, The New Arab reported.
For Pakistan, the deal adds to a busy year of defence diplomacy. In August, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in Makkah. According to Pakistan, the agreement treats an attack on any one of the three countries as an attack on all of them.
Israeli remarks
The signing comes shortly after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, in remarks in Hebrew, that it was “possible and necessary to strengthen the Hellenic alliance against the alliance of Pakistan, Türkiye and the countries that are against us.”∎
