Turkey-Saudi Arabia defense industry cooperation was reinforced at the Defense Industry Days held in Istanbul, bringing together Turkish defense firms and Saudi Arabian officials to deepen strategic partnership. Organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), Saha Istanbul, and Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), the event was attended by the Head of Turkey's Defense Industry Agency Haluk Görgün, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister and General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) Vice President Bandar Al-Khorayef, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Çetin Ali Dönmez, and Istanbul Governor Davut Gül.

Görgün emphasized that Turkey seeks to share the expertise accumulated over two decades in the defense sector with friendly and allied nations and advance through joint initiatives. He highlighted that the defense ecosystem established under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's leadership has delivered concrete results and numerous examples of success. Görgün noted that this model is being adopted as a vision to be developed with international partners. He disclosed that over the past three and a half years, 75 meetings have been held with Saudi Arabia's GAMI, SAMI, and GADD (General Authority for Defense Development) institutions, with 25 meetings conducted this year alone.

Addressing Saudi Arabia's 2030 Vision objectives to produce at least 50 percent of required defense products domestically and secure the supply chain, Görgün stated that Turkish defense companies are conducting joint work with Saudi Arabian counterparts across multiple domains. He underscored that Turkey's approximately 4,500 defense industry SMEs, over 1,400 projects, and a portfolio valued at around 120 billion dollars stand ready to support this cooperation.

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister Al-Khorayef stated that bilateral cooperation extends beyond industrial sectors and rests on fraternal foundations, noting that both nations collaborate within the G20 and the Mecca Accord framework. He announced that Saudi Arabia has raised its defense industry localization rate from 4 percent to 27 percent and targets reaching 50 percent by 2030. Al-Khorayef emphasized that technology transfer and international experience are critical to achieving these objectives and expressed the desire to leverage Turkish companies' accumulated expertise to establish strong partnerships. He noted that Saudi Arabia offers various incentives to attract international and local investors, aiming to create robust partnerships and generate new business opportunities for Saudi firms while continuing to attract investment across different industrial sectors under the 2030 Vision framework.