June 30, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 3, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, June 29: Pakistan and Turkey will enhance cooperation in the fields of defence research and development, joint defence production and electronic warfare. Both the countries will hold joint military exercises and exchange military delegations on regular basis.

This was decided at the fourth meeting of Pakistan-Turkey High Level Military Dialogue Group which concluded here on Thursday with a pledge to further strengthen and increase defence collaboration between the two countries.

The meeting was jointly presided over by Defence Secretary Lt- Gen (R) Tariq Wasim Ghazi and Deputy Chief of Turkish General Staff Gen Isik Kosaner.

The meeting reviewed the progress of the two-day deliberations and expressed satisfaction over the progress made during the course of discussion.

The meeting underscored the need for closer defence cooperation between the two countries, observing that security environment of the region necessitated that the armed forces of the two countries enhanced the level of cooperation and took the existing military and defence cooperation to the maximum desired level.

The group decided to hold mid-term review meetings on regular basis to ensure speedy implementation of the decisions taken by it.

Earlier, the Turkish defence delegation called on Defence Production Secretary Lt-Gen (R) Shahid Siddiq Tirmizey and discussed with him matters pertaining to enhancement of defence collaboration between the two countries.

Both the sides stressed the need for undertaking joint ventures in the area of defence production and sharing of expertise to benefit from each other’s experience.