Latif Aral Aliş : “Global Solutions for Local Need; We are Meeting The World’s Needs.”
Defence Turkey: Mr. Latif Aral Aliş, you attended Eurosatory the Land and Airland Defence and Security Exhibition that took place in Paris last month and you accompanied Undersecretary for Defence Industries Prof. İsmail Demir throughout the fair. Could you please brief us your impression about the fair?
Eurosatory is one of the prominent sectorial events worldwide. We attended Eurosatory 2014 with a national participation organized by Defence and Aerospace Industry Exporters’ Association (SSI). We represented Turkish defence industry together with 22 companies, SSI and our promotion group called Turkish Defence Alliance (TDA). We were ranked as the 7th country in terms of the number of companies attending the fair. This year, we participated in the fair with our motto “global solutions for local needs” which represents the point where Turkish Defence Industry has reached. Owing to our wide product range, diversified services and increasing quality, the interest to the Turkish Defence and Aerospace Industry products is increasing day by day. We observed such increasing interest in Paris. The Turkish companies’ stands hosted a large number of visitors.
Defence Turkey: What kind of bilateral meetings were held at Eurosatory in order to generate prospective business opportunities?
The Turkish pavillion and TDA’s stand were among the most vigorous areas of the fair. We met and discussed with officials from various regions of the world during 5 days. France Defence Minister Jean Yves Le Drian, our Undersecretary for Defence Industries Prof. İsmail Demir, Turkish Ambassador to Paris Hakkı Akil and Commercial Counsellor Cem Topbaş visited our stand. We gave information to the visitors about our industry, SSI and TDA; thus it was a fruitful promotion activity. The Turkish companies participating in the fair also made significant meetings and interviews. We think such fairs are important for the Turkish Defence Industry to open up to the world. Naturally, it may not be possible to have immediate huge and significant outcomes; however we believe each fair is an important promotion and recognition opportunity. In this respect, one can say Eurosatory 2014 was fruitful and successful for Turkish companies.
Defence Turkey: Mr. Aliş, how do you evaluate our performance in the first half of 2014 with respect to the value of defence exports compared to the same period of last year?
We, as Turkey, are one of the emerging countries in the world in terms of defence industry. We have reached such a level to meet the world’s needs in different fields from software to hardware, from aerospace, land and naval platforms to logistic services. We can easily see this fact also from our increasing export figures. In the first half of 2013, our export performance was 682 million USD, whereas in 2014 first half, it increased to 779 million USD. This means there is 14% increase.
Defence Turkey: Could you please inform us about SSI’s activities planned for 2014 second half? What will be your plans for the coming period in order to increase the recognition of Turkish products and companies as well as to provide contributions to our export activities, such as the fairs and organizations that you plan to attend or trade missions?
Our objective, as Defence and Aerospace Industry Exporters’ Association, is to increase Turkish Defence Industry export as far as possible and make Turkey one of the prominent global suppliers. There would be many things to be realized for this, indeed. Foremost among these is “promotion”. National participation fair organizations, as channels where the sector meets globally, provide significant promotion opportunity. In our 2014 fair schedule as SSI and TDA, we were in IWA Hunting and Shooting Fair between 7-10 March in Nuremberg-Germany, DIMDEX Defence Exhibition & Conference between 25-27 March in Doha-Qatar, ILA Berlin Airshow between 20-25 May in Berlin-Germany; EUROSATORY The Land and Airland Defence and Security Exhibition between 16-20 June in Paris-France. In the 2nd half of 2014 we will participate in INDODEFENCE Expo between 5-8 November in Jakarta-Indonesia and AAD Africa Aerospace & Defence 2014 to be held in Pretoria-South Africa.
Turkish Defence Alliance-TDA has also been performing significant studies for promoting together with fair participation activities. We will establish bilateral procurement missions and make visits within the upcoming period. We had the chance to present the Turkish Defence Industry to a mission from United States last April. We will increase the number of such activities. In addition, we will create new business opportunities to our defence industry companies through market researches and requirement analyses to be prepared aiming at Asia and Far East which we have determined as new target markets.
