Ankara and Kuala Lumpur aim to elevate their friendship and cooperation to "much higher levels in every field," Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said on Monday during Malaysia’s 67th National Day reception in the capital of Ankara, which also marked the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
"At present, joint training activities, exercises and cooperative ventures between the armed forces of both countries are ongoing. Similarly, our economic cooperation is also developing rapidly," Güler pointed out.
Most recently, Malaysia has signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase three Turkish corvette warships, showing the growth in defense industry ties.
He reminded that the free trade agreement signed in 2014 holds the distinction of being Türkiye’s first FTA with a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). "The expansion of this agreement to cover services, investments and e-commerce has laid the groundwork for further growth in our bilateral trade," he added.
For his part, Malaysia’s Ambassador to Ankara, Sazali Mustafa Kamal, said that trade and investment have continued steadily. "Türkiye is an important trade and investment partner for Malaysia. We also witness growing Turkish collaborations with Malaysia in aerospace industries, chemical products and food manufacturing. In the same vein, Malaysian companies have shown increasing interest in being present in Türkiye for business, investment and pleasure," Kamal highlighted.
He underlined that with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), the focus would continue on cooperation in political engagement, trade and economics, education, defense and tourism.
"Contacts between leaders of our two countries remained all-time high. Within this period, a total of 28 high-level visits from Malaysia to Türkiye. These include the State Visit of His Majesty the King of Malaysia in August 2022, a total of three Prime Minister’s visits in 2022 and 2023, Deputy Prime Minister and a number of cabinet ministers visit."
Kamal said that tourism ties have also been growing in this period. "Last year, 17,275 Turkish tourists had visited Malaysia. Malaysia is located at the heart of Southeast Asia and is blessed with many attractions for visitors. I would like to take this opportunity to invite the Turkish people to visit Malaysia and experience that ‘Malaysia is truly Asia.’"
Moreover, in 2025 Malaysia will be chairing ASEAN. "Malaysia’s focus would continue on strengthening existing ASEAN mechanisms and institutions, but also find synergies with other regions and key dialogue partners to foster development and prosperity," Kamal underlined." We will also intensify engagements with other sub-regions and leverage ties with our strategic partners, including Türkiye."