Pakistan strengthens military industrial ties with Malaysia and Turkey
Pakistan has strengthened military production ties with Malaysia and Turkey as part of Islamabad's continuing strategy to formulate strong defence industrial relations with predominately Muslim countries.
Enhanced collaboration in defence development and production activities was a feature of talks between Pakistan Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials and counterparts from Malaysia and Turkey, said MoD statements issued on 4 and 5 September.
During the eighth Pakistan-Turkey "high-level military dialogue group meeting" the MoD said that the two countries agreed to "boost defence industrial co-operation through collaboration in joint ventures", although it did not elaborate.
The MoD added that Pakistan and Turkey also agreed to establish two working groups under the existing bilateral forum to explore opportunities for further collaboration in military and defence industrial activities.
Previous defence industry collaboration between the two countries has focused on the development of tactical unmanned aerial vehicles. Additionally, Turkey has upgraded Pakistan's F-16 fighter aircraft and supplied the country with Kaan 33 fast attack craft, AH-1F/S Cobra attack helicopter parts and artillery simulators.
The agreement between Malaysia and Pakistan to "augment interaction" in defence industry collaboration was signed during the 10th bilateral "Joint Committee on Defence Co-operation". The two countries also signed an accord facilitating enhanced military-to-military exchanges, postings and training.
The Pakistan MoD did not specify areas of defence industry co-operation with Malaysia. In the past this has focused on sales to Malaysia of Pakistan-built (but Chinese designed) missile systems including the QW-1 Vanguard portable surface-to-air missile systems and Red Arrow-8 anti-tank missiles. Sales to Malaysia of small arms and conventional ammunition are also thought to have taken place.
ANALYSIS
Pakistan's growing defence relationship with Malaysia and Turkey is representative of a trend that has emerged in recent years of closer defence and military ties between predominantly Islamic countries.
Pakistan has signed similar defence collaboration agreements with Brunei, Indonesia, Jordan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Yemen. Indonesia has also made considerable efforts to secure partnerships with such states.
These ties offer the participants a level of trust based on religion and culture that might not be achievable with non-Muslim countries. Some of these countries - notable Indonesia and Pakistan - have also both been subjected to military sanctions in previous years and both countries are committed to diversifying suppliers. Another factor is the US's continuing 'war on terror', which is likely to have isolated Islamic nations to a certain degree and further increased the likelihood of additional defence relationships between these nations.
It is probable that such partnerships also enable the participating countries to do defence business with each other through interest-free Islamic banking. There is little open source information available about Islamic banking and how frequently it is applied in defence trade, although Malaysia - which is regarded as a regional Islamic banking hub - has previously indicated its use.
In July 2010 Malaysian Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the country was considering the use of an Islamic banking system known as 'sukuk' to pay contractors working on a project to upgrade military bases. In May 2009 Hamidi urged the Royal Malaysian Navy to upgrade or replace ageing equipment using funds sourced from the Islamic banking mechanism.
DW
