Erdogan: Turkey, Serbia to cooperate in defence industry to preserve peace in Balkans

BELGRADE - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday in Belgrade Turkey and Serbia would be developing cooperation in the defence industry to protect peace and stability in the Balkans.

After the signing of agreements on cooperation between the two countries, Erdogan said Serbia and Turkey could "go hand in hand" on the path of protecting peace and stability.

He was speaking at a press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

"We reached an agreement during the discussion and ordered our aides to start working on that. Efforts will be made on both sides. We will be cooperating in the domain of the defence industry, and no one should ever question our cooperation," Erdogan said.

He said Turkish and Serbian government ministers and other aides would discuss opportunities for cooperation in the defence industry.

"Serbia has capacities, Turkey has capacities, and we need to use our capacities together for the sake of a better future," he noted.

Asked by a reporter if cooperation in the defence industry also implied shipments of Turkish-made UAVs to Serbia, Erdogan said he had discussed with Vucic the capabilities of the Turkish defence industry when it comes to UAVs as well as benefits for both countries.

Vucic said there was ample space for cooperation in the defence industry.

"I am very grateful to President Erdogan for telling his aides today in a determined manner what direction our relations should proceed in. Of course, the Turkish military industry is significantly stronger than ours but, without false modesty, I want to say that our military industry is not to be underestimated or ignored either. It is those frameworks that we have space for major cooperation in the future," Vucic said in response to questions from reporters.

He noted that, after a long period of time, Serbia had recently renewed military equipment export permits for Turkey and that a "substantial" quantity of grenades had been exported to the country as a result.

Earlier, Serbia and Turkey signed 11 agreements and memorandums on cooperation at a ceremony also attended by Vucic and Erdogan.

The documents include MoUs on disaster and emergencies management, on cooperation in labour, employment and social security, on energy transition, on youth, on sports and on media and information, as well as a protocol on cooperation between the City of Belgrade and Turkey's metropolitan municipality of Gaziantep.