Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in purchasing Turkish drones as part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent diplomatic initiative to improve relations with the countries in the Gulf Arab region. This is just one of several lucrative contracts that Erdogan has gotten for Turkey's economy, which is currently experiencing a lot of difficulty.
The Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey reports that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday as part of a journey that would take him to a total of three countries in the region.
Between the two countries, several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) covering a wide variety of subjects were signed by both parties.
According to the Saudi state news agency SPA, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman witnessed the signing of a deal between the Saudi defence ministry and the Turkish defence contractor Baykar.
According to a tweet that was posted on Tuesday by the Minister of military of Saudi Arabia, Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, the drones would be purchased "with the aim of enhancing the readiness of the kingdom's armed forces and bolstering its defence and manufacturing capabilities."
SPA did not provide any information regarding the monetary particulars of the deal.
Concerns over the state of the Turkish economy
The recent hikes in sales and petrol taxes have been defended by Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek as necessary to restore fiscal discipline and curb inflation; Erdogan's visit coincides with these measures.
The official annual inflation rate hit a high of 85% in October, but it has since declined to 38% in the most recent month.
Turkey's current account deficit reached a record $37.7 billion through the month of May, which prompted President Erdogan to seek aid from the oil- and gas-rich Gulf states.
On Tuesday, the Turkish lira hit a new record low of 26.6 to the dollar as investors began looking ahead to the policy-setting meeting that will take place on Thursday. At that meeting, it is anticipated that the central bank would once again raise interest rates.
Following a day in which it finished at 26.3505 in relation to the dollar, the lira experienced a decline of up to 0.9%.
Over thirty percent of its worth has been lost already this year.
Relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia are on the path to normalisation.
Because of Turkey's backing for the Muslim Brotherhood during the Arab Spring in 2011, there was a ten-year vacuum in relations between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The blockade placed on Qatar in 2017 by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain significantly worsened relations between Turkey and its Arab neighbours.
After the murder of Saudi writer and political dissident Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, relations with Riyadh became even more strained. The intelligence community in the United States believes that Prince Mohammed was the one who issued the order that led to the death, although the Saudi government disputes this.
approximately the course of the last few months, Turkey has received approximately $20 billion from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as part of currency swap arrangements. Additionally, in March, $5 billion was deposited into Turkey's central bank from Saudi Arabia.
A few days after Erdogan was re-elected as president of Turkey earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey announced a trade pact that is expected to be worth $40 billion over the next five years.
On Tuesday, Erdogan will go to Doha to meet with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and then on Wednesday, he will travel to Abu Dhabi to meet with the head of the United Arab Emirates.
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