Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry, YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, paid a courtesy call on the President of the Republic of Turkey, His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today, at the Presidential Complex. President
Erdoğan was also joined by H.E. Mustafa Varank, Minister of Industry and Technology, as well as H.E. Merve Safa Kavakçı, the Ambassador of Turkey to Malaysia.
President Erdoğan underscored the importance of elevating existing trade and investment linkages between Malaysia and Turkey, including through the MalaysiaTurkey FTA (MTFTA). He noted that the full potential of trade volume between Malaysia and Turkey has yet to be realised.
He further highlighted the need for both countries to work closely to increase the existing trade volume. In this regard, the
Senior Minister reiterated Malaysia’s firm commitment to further boost trade ties between both countries. Bilateral trade between both countries continue to post steady growth, but there remain significant opportunities for further improvements.
The Senior Minister also noted that the existing trade relationship should be deepened and strengthened to truly reflect the longstanding bilateral and historical ties. The President and the Senior Minister also recognised that trade volume continues to
be in Malaysia’s favour. In this vein, Dato’ Seri Azmin underscored Malaysia’s commitment to enable further imports from Turkey to access the Malaysian market.
He noted that the expansion of the existing FTA will be pivotal to facilitate and increase Turkey’s exports to Malaysia.
In reinforcing this mandate, Dato’ Seri Azmin informed the President of the signing of the Joint Declaration on The Expansion of The Free Trade Agreement Between The Government of Malaysia and The Government of The Republic of Turkey, which marks
a resolute commitment to continue to champion progressive liberalisation at a time when new forms of protectionism are taking root.
On defence, both sides agreed to enhance mutually-beneficial cooperation initiatives that will help propel technological advancements in Malaysia and Turkey. The President noted that there are 14 MOUs in the defence sector, that are currently in place. He stressed that realising these MOUs are of critical importance to ensure that both sides truly gain from such arrangements.
The President also invited Malaysian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as Khazanah to further expand their investments, in Turkey. To this end, they both agreed that preferential trading arrangements such as RCEP can serve as an integral tool to Turkish companies investing and locating in Malaysia, as they will be able to benefit from the preferences granted in the agreement when exporting to ASEAN, Japan, Korea, China, Australia and New Zealand.
