The newly-formed Malaysia-Turkey Business Club (MTBC) to serve as a platform for both Malaysian and Turkish companies to network and share useful information in creating more joint-venture projects and business opportunities for trade and investment, according the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade).

MTBC will complement the existing council that promotes Malaysia-Turkey trade, would further enhance networking between companies in various sectors from both nations. It also expects exports to Turkey will grow more this year to 54.5 percent growth achieved last year, said Matrade, Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud.

They hope to record a 55 percent growth or more in exports but given the challenging economic environment, maintaining the growth as what they had achieved last year would be sufficient, after the launch of MTBC here, today.

Dzulkifli said that the inception of MTBC was timely following the Malaysia-Turkey Free Trade Agreement (MTFTA) that came into effect on Aug 1, 2015. Under the MTFTA, both nations agreed to eliminate customs duties at approximately 70 percent of the total tariff lines.

At the end of the total eight years of elimination period, Malaysia will eliminate 99 percent of the tariff lines, while Turkey is set to eliminate 87 percent.

For the January-February 2016 period, bilateral trade with Turkey doubled to RM1.21 billion from RM573.3 million registered in the same period in 2015, driven by exports that grew 136.9 percent to RM1.04 billion during the period.

Last year, Malaysia’s exports to Turkey rose by 54.5 per cent to RM3.8 billion from RM2.46 billion in 2014 while imports was worth RM1.85 billion against RM710.7 million in the previous year.

Malaysia’s major exports to Turkey last year which included textile, clothing and footwear valued at RM 740.9 million, while main imports of textiles, clothing and footwear from Turkey valued at RM127.7 million.