New Stage of Turkey and France Defence Industry
In the opening ceremony, SaSaD Chairman Mr. Kudret Önen, GIFAS Chairman Mr. Marwan Lahoud, Head of DGA Mr. Laurent Collet-Billion, METU Teknokent Vice Rector Volkan Atalay and the Undersecretary for Defence Industries Mr. Murad Bayar gave opening remarks to the attendees.
Head of DGA Mr. Laurent Collet-Billion expressed his satisfaction at being in Turkey on the occasion of the first French-Turkish Industry Seminar jointly organised by the SSM and DGA with the support of Turkish and French industry and provided information to participants on the new period that has started between the two nations since last year. Collet-Billion said, “Our Presidents and our Defence Ministers decided to open a new phase in our relations during their last meetings. With this understanding of mutual benefits, we are in a constructive approach with the objective of a “win-win” situation.
Collet-Billion: “We are working on an armament committee that will direct the armament activities between both nations”
Head of the Direction Generale de Armement, Mr. Laurent Collet-Billion indicated that the SSM and the DGA were co-operating together as the first concrete step in the convergence that has taken place in the area of defence between the two nations since last year. “In order to revive and sustain our relationship in the area of armaments between Turkey and France, we are in close collaboration with the SSM in working out a technical arrangement that will place it within an institutional framework in directing our mutual activities.”
The Annual Sales of the French Defence Industry is 15 Billion Euros
Providing information on the size of the French defence industry Collet-Billion indicated that, “Our defence industry with 165,000 personnel of which 20,000 are skilled personnel and nearly 4,000 defence industry companies has reached an average annual sales of 15 billion euro. Out of this figure 30 percent consists of exports.” Stating that France is among the leading countries in Europe that allocates the most to R&D from its budget, Collet-Billion went on to add that, “We foresee an average annual budget of 730 million euro between 2014 and 2019.” Mentioning that preparatory work for the Military Programming Law of France was continuing and that it had set its 6 year annual budget, Collet-Billion further added that the senior officials of the state see investments in the defence area as compulsory and those countries that are partners with France in armament relations would directly benefit from this arrangement.
France and Turkey are Expanding Their Trade Volume - Target: “20 Billion Euros”
Chairman of GIFAS, Mr. Marwan Lahoud, mentioning his satisfaction at being in this seminar that has been organised with the aim of increasing co-operation between the two countries in the area of aerospace and aviation said that 60 French defence industry firms and a delegation consisting of 90 members were attending this seminar. Lahoud pointed out that, “In addition to the joint meetings to take place during the three days of the gathering they would be visiting various Turkish defence industry firms” and added that, “In the collaboration that will be carried out in the long run, we are making efforts in working towards forming a sustainable partnership.” Emphasizing that during the meetings of the Presidents of the two nations they had put forth a target on a more effective collaboration in the areas of commerce and economy, Lahoud mentioned that, “Both Presidents in their meetings set a 20 billion euro volume in joint collaborations in the areas of commerce and industry. In order to meet this target we need significant collaboration in the area of defence industry.” Bringing together the capabilities that the two nations possess in exports to third countries and touching on the importance of the collaboration to be established, Lahoud added that the valued collaboration to be formed between DGA and the SSM, in particular in creating new export markets was crucial.
The Undersecretary for Defence Industries Murad Bayar in his opening remarks mentioned that the two countries as two NATO nations had very close collaboration and added that they were implementing activities in increasing their collaboration with France in various platforms such as ASD.
Murad Bayar added that this seminar taking place would, he believed, further strengthen the collaboration between the two countries in the area of defence industry.
Subsequent to the opening remarks and presentations, in order to increase the collaboration in the defence industry between Turkey and France and to create new opportunities, the Chairman of the Board of SaSaD Mr. Kudret Önen and Chairman of GIFAS Mr. Marwan Lahoud signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on their collaboration.
Joint company meetings took place during the second session of the day in which 60 Turkish and French companies took part with approximately 550 meetings taking place.
