Int'l defense fair IDEF to open next week

ISTANBUL

Türkiye's 16th International Defence Industry Fair, IDEF’23, will be organized between July 25 and 28 in Istanbul.

IDEF, which is among the most prestigious defense industry fairs in the world, is preparing to host a record number of visitors and exhibitors this year by adding a new exhibition hall to its existing ones in line with the strong local and foreign demands, the organizers of the event said in a statement.

Exhibitors will display their new products and technologies at the event to be attended by senior state and private sector officials from several countries, it added.

The statement recalled that IDEF hosted 1,238 exhibitor companies from 53 countries and 68,795 professional visitors from 94 countries in 2021.

In addition to the exhibitors and visitors, the fair in 2021 also hosted 163 delegations from 81 countries and two international organizations.

More than 4,000 scheduled meetings and stand visits, as well as 94 signing ceremonies, were held at the 2021 fair.

According to the visitor and exhibitor satisfaction survey held for the IDEF fair in 2021, 90 percent of the visitors said they would recommend the fair to their business circles, 99 percent were satisfied with the fair, and 98 percent plan to visit the IDEF fair in 2023, the statement said.

Türkiye has become an important player in the global defense industry.

Earlier this week, during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Baykar signed an agreement to provide its Bayraktar AKINCI unmanned combat aerial vehicles to Saudi Arabia, which Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar has called “the biggest defense and aviation export contract in the history of the Turkish Republic.”

The Turkish defense and aeronautics sector’s export revenues increased by 36.9 percent from 2021 to stand at $4.3 billion.

In the first half of 2023, the industry’s exports grew nearly 22 percent year-on-year to $2.38 billion, according to data from the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM).