Manama: Bahrain will be supplied with drones, patrol boats and firearms as part of multimillion dollar military deals with Turkey.
Turkish Bahraini Business Council chairman Osman Yildrim Coskun said Turkey was also looking to further bolster co-operation with Bahrain in the military sector with advanced weaponry and artillery deals being signed within the year.
He told the GDN during a briefing in Istanbul that Bahrain’s military spending over the last few months has reached around $40 million, which is around eight per cent of the $500m annual trade between the two nations.
“We have managed to get deals for aircraft drones, speedboat patrols and guns for policemen worth $4m over the past few months, but we believe that there is a potential for more,” said Mr Coskun.
He also said plans were in place to attract businessmen in Bahrain, and other Gulf states, to invest in agricultural plots of land in southeast Turkey to meet high demand for fruits and vegetables.
“Bahrain is the gateway not just to the GCC, but the world, and we believe that partnership in the field of agriculture and livestock would be excellent and there are vast plots in the southeast of the country that we could offer with good incentives,” he explained.
“We have asked to meet the president from the Bahraini side in October, Ahmed Bin Hindi, but we have not received any confirmation yet for us to come up with a general idea on what Bahrain wants and what we could offer, considering that we are the main exporters of fruits and vegetables in the region.
“Speeding up procedures will certainly help put things into implementation within three to four years.”
Meanwhile, Mr Coskun hoped it would only take a few months for the Turkish government to sign a deal to make Bahrain the centre for Turkish products in the region, including textile and petrochemical materials.
The GDN reported on Friday that Bahrain’s Ambassador to Turkey Dr Ibrahim Al Abdullah presented a proposal to have a permanent cargo ship in Bahrain to receive all Turkish products and distribute them internationally.
“Bahrain has a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US and it can open the doors for us in North and South American countries,” said Mr Coskun.
“There is a general idea on where the proposed centre will be located, but it has not been confirmed yet.
“The problem with us being without a permanent government now means that things will have to wait, but we want to finish things within the next few months, especially with our investors and possible Bahraini partners keen on textile, aluminium and
petrochemical products.
“Everyone knows that our world competitor is China because they sell cheaper products, but we are of better quality and our market has huge appeal.”
The GDN earlier reported that Bahrain’s trade with Turkey has reached an annual average of $500m – a significant increase from seven years ago
when it was just an average of $72m.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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