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Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan jointly inaugurated the latest corvette ‘PNS Khaibar’ for Pakistan Navy, strengthening defence ties between the two countries, Gulf News reported.

The inauguration of the third of the four MILGEM corvette “represents the deepening of defence cooperation between our two brotherly countries,” PM Sharif said.

In his speech at the launch ceremony in Istanbul, the prime minister urged experts from both sides to enhance their defence production capacities to strengthen the Pakistan-Turkey defence partnership.

Turkish President Erdogan termed the defence industry as “one of the important pillars of cooperation” between Pakistan and Turkey and Pakistan. “The solidarity between us is strengthening day by day with a strategic perspective decisively based on the history, friendship, and potential of the two countries,” President Erdogan said.

Pakistan’s Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Amjad Khan Niazi also attended the launching ceremony and congratulated the leadership of both countries on the landmark achievement.

The MILGEM project is based on joint collaboration and represents a significant milestone in the Pakistan-Turkey strategic partnership, according to Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs.

Pakistan signed a $1.5 billion deal with Turkey in 2018 for the acquisition of four Ada class ships with Turkish state-owned defence firm ASFAT. Under the contract that included technology transfer, two ships were to be constructed at Istanbul Naval Shipyard and the other two at Karachi Shipyard.

The first MILGEM-class (also known as Babur-class) warship for Pakistan Navy, named PNS Babur, was launched at the Istanbul shipyard in August 2021 and PNS Khaibar is be launched in November 2022 in Istanbul. The third MILGEM-class multipurpose corvette, named PNS Badr, was launched in the port city of Karachi in May 2022 while the fourth PNS Tariq is under construction at Karachi Shipyard.