MGBF Keen on Malaysia-Turkey FTA

It was reported by BERNAMA on January 22, 2010 that Turkish Director-General of European Union Affairs at the Undersecretariat of Prime Ministry for Foreign Trade of Turkey Husnu Dilemre wants to initiate a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Malaysia by April this year.

While our eyes rolled up of excitement, our hearts couldn’t stop screaming "YES!!!!”.

The reason for all the excitement is obvious. The MGBF is hosting Turkey this year, and a FTA between both countries, especially before the MGBF is very much welcomed due to its huge impact on possible business negotiations which would take place during the MGBF 2010.

According to the report by BERNAMA, Dilemre expects little problems in sealing the FTA with Malaysia as Turkey and Malaysia have a total trade of about US$975 million, with exports of about US$860 million while imports amounted to US$115 million for the year 2009. Dilemre also stressed that most sectors in Turkey complement each other, and they have a lot to offer to their Malaysia counterparts.

It is also interesting to note that Turkey is the 15th largest economy in the world and serves as a gateway to countries located in Europe, Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Caucasia. That means, Malaysian companies or business have the advantage to use Turkey as a stepping stone to penetrate into a bigger share of the market. Wouldn’t it be cool to have your local Malaysian business go global? Imagine, having ‘Nasi Lemak’ as a signature dish in France!

So how does MGBF actually fit in this picture, and this report by BERNAMA?

Well, a 30-member Turkish business delegation is here in Malaysia to attend to the Industry Briefing and Business Matching with the support of the Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade of Turkey. The briefing would be held at Renaissance Hotel, Kuala Lumpur tomorrow on the 25th January 2010, and we expect good initial talks between business counterparts from both countries. We are also very hopeful and at the same time convinced that this session is the catalyst to kick start more partnership among Malaysian and Turkish companies and hence allow a fully fledged business partnership to materialize during the up-coming MGBF in Kuching this year. In additional to that, we expect the delegates to make new friends, and bond with each other through a good cup of coffee, and therefore make it easier for them to proceed with their business talks when they come over to Kuching. With that said, we look forward to the business matching tomorrow, and anticipate the possibility of the FTA between Malaysia and Turkey to materialize as we also agree with what Dilemre described as ‘the way for better conditions for investment flow between the two countries apart from presenting opportunities to diversify and boost trade volume significantly’.