DOHA (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan, Türkiye, Qatar and Indonesia signed a four-nation defence memorandum in Doha on Wednesday, pledging to work together on military production, training and research, Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence said.
The agreement, named the Badr Memorandum of Understanding, aims to strengthen cooperation in military production, raise the military capabilities of the four countries and support joint work on technical military training, research and development, the ministry said in a statement. It added that the initiative would pool each country’s military production capacity to expand their defence industries and meet the needs of allied and friendly nations, and described the accord as having “substantial economic importance.”
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif attended the signing ceremony alongside Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler, Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Indonesia’s deputy defence minister. Haluk Görgün, head of Türkiye’s Presidency of Defence Industries, was also present, according to Turkish media.
What the memorandum covers
According to Turkish media reports on the ministry’s statement, the areas of cooperation include joint research and development, joint production of components for certain defence products, training of technical personnel and sharing engineering experience. The four countries also plan to adapt jointly developed products to each member’s needs and market them internationally.
The text of the memorandum has not been made public. The ministry’s statement did not set out financial terms or name specific weapons programmes, and the document is a memorandum of understanding on defence industry cooperation, not a mutual defence pact.
The signing went ahead as The Thursday Times reported on Tuesday, a day after Sheikh Saoud told the Global Security Forum in Doha that Qatar would soon announce plans for a local defence production hub, built with regional and international partners.
A widening web of alliances
For Pakistan, the Badr memorandum is the second multilateral defence arrangement with Türkiye in as many months. In August, Pakistan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, under which an armed attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. Khawaja Asif and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar attended a meeting of that pact in Riyadh on October 5.
Türkiye, which has NATO’s second-largest army and a fast-growing defence industry, maintains a military base in Qatar and has been helping Gulf states bolster their defences during the war involving Iran. Ankara also has close defence-industry ties with Jakarta, including a deal to export 48 KAAN fighter jets to Indonesia, and has built MILGEM corvettes for the Pakistan Navy.∎
