PH, Turkey hold bilateral defense talks

Photo from Facebook page of Sec. Delfin Lorenzana

The Department of National Defense (DND) announced on Thursday that the defense ministers of the Philippines and Turkey already conducted bilateral defense talks last week in Ankara, Turkey.

In a statement issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana led a 15-member delegation comprised of 10 officials from the DND and five personnel from the Philippine Embassy in Ankara.

Secretary Lorenzana and his counterpart, Minister Işık, held the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF ‘17) held in Istanbul, which was conducted to discuss defense relations between the Philippines and Turkey.

Both parties signed a Declaration of Intent on Defense Industries after the bilateral meeting, represented by Philippine Undersecretary for Finance and Material, Raymundo DV. Elefante and his counterpart Turkish Deputy Undersecretary for Defense Industries of the Turkish Ministry of National Defence, Köksal Liman.

The defense officials of the two countries also toured the exhibition hall of the IDEF, which featured Turkey’s biggest defense companies.

They executives also visited the Istanbul Shipyard where they were shown modern facilities, equipment, multi-purpose support vessels, boats and ships.

Lorenzana laid a wreath at Ataturk’s Mausoleum and visited the Ataturk Museum. The delegation also visited the Headquarters of the Turkish Aerospace Industry and the Microelectronics Guidance Electro Optics. Frances Mangosing/JPV