Türkİye, Asia - Pacific

Türkiye determined to further deepen ties with Malaysia: President Erdogan

Bilateral ties advanced from level of strategic partnership to comprehensive strategic partnership, says Turkish president

Faruk Zorlu  | 07.07.2022 - Update : 07.07.2022
Türkiye determined to further deepen ties with Malaysia: President Erdogan

ANKARA

 Türkiye is determined to further deepen its bilateral relations with Malaysia, the Turkish president said on Thursday.

"We advanced our bilateral relations from the level of a strategic partnership to the comprehensive strategic partnership," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a joint news conference with Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Bin Yaakob following their meeting in the capital Ankara.

In the meeting, Erdogan said, "we comprehensively discussed our relations in various fields such as economy, investments, and trade, as well as the defense industry, technology, health, education, and communication.

Malaysia is Türkiye's largest trade partner in the ASEAN region, he said, adding despite the pandemic, the trade volume between the two countries in 2021 increased by 50% and exceeded the level of $3.5 billion.

The two countries agreed to increase their cooperation in the face of today's challenges such as food security, energy, environment, and climate change.

“We plan to carry out joint studies on the launch of our domestic vaccine TURKOVAC in Malaysia, vaccine technology transfer and joint development of vaccines," Erdogan said.

The Turkish president said that global issues were also discussed in the meeting. "We also discussed issues, including Rohingya crisis and Islamophobia, which are closely related to the Islamic world," he added.

The duo also expressed their determination to increasingly continue their solidarity on international forums, including the UN, Islamic Cooperation Organization, and D-8, he added.

A total of seven agreements were signed between the two countries in the fields of the defense industry, technology, health, health tourism, and communication.

For his part, Ismail said Malaysia and Türkiye are in the final stage of expanding the scope of their free trade agreement.

Ismail arrived in Türkiye on Tuesday and spent the day in Istanbul where he met the Malaysian community and Turkish businesspeople, and inspected the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport which is owned and managed by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.

It is Ismail's first visit to Türkiye as chief executive of the Southeast Asian nation.

The two countries also agreed on a media and communications deal that was signed by Türkiye's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun and Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato' Sri Saifuddin bin Abdullah.

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