Turkey expects to initiate free trade agreement negotiations with Malaysia by April 2010 following very positive exploratory talks between the two countries recently.

Mr Husnu Dilemre DG of European Union Affairs at the Turkish Prime Ministry's Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade said "At the meeting we explained Turkey's relationship with the European Union and were informed about Malaysia's free trade agreements. In order to initiate free trade agreement negotiations, we have to wait for a number of Malaysian procedures to be completed. We expect to start the negotiations by April this year."

Mr Dilemre said that with this FTA, Turkey will be Malaysia's gateway to the European Union and Malaysia will be Turkey's gateway to Asia.

According to the data provided by the Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters' Association, steel is one of the main products Turkey exports to Malaysia. In 2009 Turkey exported 72,775 tonnes of steel products to the country, compared to 3,053 tonnes exported in 2008. Meanwhile in the first 11 months of 2009, Malaysia exported 6,400 tonnes of iron and steel products to Turkey.

(Sourced from Steel Orbis)