Malaysia maintains an important position in Turkey's Asia Anew Initiative, Turkish Ambassador to Kuala Lumpur Emir Salim Yüksel said Wednesday.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Yüksel stated that Turkey and Malaysia have close relations based on historical and cultural perspectives and that after the visit made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2019, high-level and technical visits, which could not be made in person between the two countries due to the COVID-19 outbreak, have intensified.

He pointed out that with Malaysia opening its borders as of April 1, they had the opportunity to host Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob in Turkey.

"The visit was important in many ways. In addition to the meetings with delegations and our president, the relevant ministers held meetings with their counterparts in Turkey," he said.

Yüksel underlined that during the visit, a total of 15 official documents were signed, seven of which were between Erdoğan and Ismail. He pointed out that apart from the agreements and memorandums, the most important result of the visit was the transformation of the strategic cooperation between the two countries, which started in 2014, into a comprehensive strategic partnership.

He touched upon the expected visit of Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to Malaysia on Thursday, Aug. 4, upon the invitation of Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. He stated that during Ismail's visit to Turkey on July 5-8, it was decided that a meeting would be held to follow up on the agreed issues.

Yüksel emphasized that Çavuşoğlu's desire to advance the agenda as soon as possible, with the momentum gained in the recent high-level and technical visits, made the upcoming visit even more important. He noted that economic and regional issues, increasing trade relations, defense industry and inter-university relations will also be discussed during the meetings.

Pointing out that the two countries have close relations, Yüksel said: "Malaysia has an important position within the framework of Turkey's Asia Anew Initiative announced in 2019. It is also an extremely important country within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and we attach importance to these relations both on a bilateral basis and in the context of ASEAN. Turkey is ASEAN's sectoral dialogue partner, and we attach importance to Malaysia's support in increasing our relations with ASEAN. In this context, we are trying to closely monitor and improve our relations with Malaysia in every aspect."

Yüksel emphasized that the two major countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Turkey and Malaysia, combining their economic powers and supporting each other are of great importance in the context of joint investments, production and technology transfer in various fields.

The ambassador stated that he considered Malaysia an important entry point for Turkey to increase its presence in the region and to develop its economic and commercial relations with other countries within the framework of the Asia Anew Initiative. He also stated that relations with Malaysia are not only seen as an import-export issue but on the contrary, importance is attached to increasing mutual investments, technology and knowledge transfer.

"It has been a short time since I started working in Malaysia. I consider myself extremely lucky here because I think there are important opportunities to further the relations between the two historically and culturally close countries. Therefore, we will work with our colleagues at our embassy to further improve the relations between the two friendly and brotherly countries. We hope that the relations between the two countries will be carried to a higher level," he added.

Announced by Çavuşoğlu at the 11th Ambassadors Conference in August 2019, the Asia Anew Initiative indicated that Turkey was determined to more effectively utilize the potential of cooperation in Asia, considered the fastest growing economic region and the continent with the largest economy in terms of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The continent has increasingly become the center for global production and trade, while the share of the Asia Pacific region rose from 26.3% in 2000 to 34.9% in 2019.

Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Malaysia were established in 1964. Both countries enjoy a broad-based and close partnership. On Jan. 10, 2014, then-Prime Minister Erdoğan and former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak declared the elevation of the bilateral relationship to the level of strategic partnership, which is the result of the progress achieved since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, as well as the depth of political, economic and cultural ties.

Being members of the United Nations, the OIC and the D-8, Turkey and Malaysia share a common perspective on a broad range of regional and global issues.

The free trade agreement (FTA) between Turkey and Malaysia, which was signed during then-Prime Minister Najib Razak’s visit to Turkey in April 2014, came into force on Aug. 1, 2015, and constitutes the first ever FTA that Turkey concluded with an ASEAN member. The negotiations for the expansion of the FTA to include e-commerce, services and investments are ongoing and a revised FTA is expected to be signed in 2022.

Reaching over $3.5 billion, the bilateral trade volume in 2021 increased almost 50% on a year-on-year basis. Some 400 Malaysian citizens currently reside in Turkey. The current number of Turkish citizens residing in Malaysia is around 500. Under the Türkiye Scholarships program, 266 Malaysian students have been awarded higher education scholarships in Turkish universities.