MALAYSIAN, TURKISH BUSINESSES NEED TO EXPLORE COLLABORATION POSSIBILITIES -- AMBASSADOR

By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysian businesses are encouraged to explore collaboration possibilities with their counterparts in Turkiye to create more synergy between the two nations, said Ambassador of Malaysia to Turkiye Sazali Mustafa Kamal.

He said many Turkish companies in various sectors are interested in collaborating with Malaysian companies through a merger or joint venture.

“The Malaysian private sector can also emulate Turkiye’s focus on research and development (R&D).

“Turkiye spent about US$12 billion (US$1=RM4.46) in 2023 and US$15 billion in 2024 for R&D alone, whereby the funds are channelled to universities, industries, companies and individuals who have the capacity to innovate,” he told Bernama.

Sazali said this after an interview on The Nation programme on Bernama TV titled “Malaysia-Turkiye: Behind The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”.

Recently, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his official visit to Malaysia from Feb 10-11, 2025, accompanied by First Lady Emine Erdogan, at the invitation of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

During the visit, Malaysia and Turkiye exchanged 11 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to enhance cooperation in various sectors.

Both country leaders aim to double their trade numbers to achieve US$10 billion (RM44.68 billion) bilateral trade after surpassing the US$5 billion (RM22.34 billion) mark in 2024.

The documents were exchanged in the presence of the prime minister and the president, covering key areas such as energy transition, disaster management, defence, trade and media collaboration.

Meanwhile, Sazali said Malaysian and Turkish businesses could leverage each other’s position and strength to expand their markets into Europe and the Middle East for Malaysia, as well as into ASEAN and the Asia Pacific region for Turkiye, respectively.

He said this includes the energy, construction and tourism sectors, which are still under-explored.

He said Turkiye has genuine capacity in the construction sector, as it is well structured, well funded and has well-skilled labour, from which Malaysian businesses could learn and benefit. 

“Besides, they also want to collaborate with Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) to explore the Black Sea for liquified natural gas.

“They are also heavily invested in renewable energy, where they have wind turbines and solar panels throughout the country, and I think we should be looking closely,” Sazali said. 

At the same time, he believed that strengthening people-to-people relations is crucial for enhancing economic cooperation.

“It is about interacting with the local people, whether Malaysians or Turks. For example, efforts should intensify when it comes to tourism because it is the bread and butter of any relations,” he said.

Until December last year, he said about 98,000 Malaysians visited Turkiye, while only about 21,000 Turks visited Malaysia.

“I hope the local tourism sector can do more promotion (so that we can) see more tourists from Turkiye visiting Malaysia," he added.

In 2024, Turkiye was Malaysia’s third-largest trading partner, largest export destination and fourth-largest import source among West Asian countries.

The total trade between Malaysia and Turkiye was recorded at RM24.13 billion (US$5.28 billion) in 2024, an 18.7 per cent increase from 2023.

-- BERNAMA