Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that visa procedures would be lifted with Malaysia. Prime Minister Erdogan appeared at a joint news conference after meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamed Najib bin Abdul Razak and said that they agreed to lift visa procedures between the two countries.
“We are also planning to launch direct flights between Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport and Kuala Lumpur,” he said. Erdogan said that Abdul Razak was the first Malaysian prime minister paying a state visit to Turkey in 28 years.
“We will sign a free trade agreement between Turkey and Malaysia this year. Such an agreement will add momentum to our economic and commercial relations. Currently, our trade volume is about 1.2 billion USD. We can increase it up to 5 billion USD. We are going to attend Turkey-Malaysia Business Forum in Istanbul tomorrow. We will tell our businessmen that we are ready to extend full support to mutual investments. Our businessmen can also work together in the third countries,” he said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak, on his part, said that he invited Prime Minister Erdogan to Malaysia by the end of 2011 to sign strategic cooperation agreement and free trade agreement. “These two agreements will mark beginning of a new era in Turkey-Malaysia relations. There will be no more visa procedures between our countries,” he said.