NEW YORK: Malaysia has expressed its willingness to purchase military equipment from Turkiye, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
Anwar said prior to this, some of Malaysia’s military equipment had been purchased from South Korea, adding that the choice of suitable purchases from Turkiye will be decided by the Malaysian Armed Forces Council.
“We could be looking at drones and helicopters… according to Turkiye’s area of specialisation. However, I will leave it to the Armed Forces on what is best,” the Prime Minister said after a bilateral meeting with Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Turkish House here today.
Anwar is currently in New York to attend the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The Prime Minister said it was now left to the Defence Ministry to hold negotiations with the Finance Ministry and the Turkish government on the military equipment purchases.
“My policy as I told the joint chief of staff is we don’t want any interference on what to procure, what to acquire,” he said.
At the same time, Anwar said Erdogan has also agreed to visit Malaysia in December.
In another development, Turkiye has agreed that Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) will continue to operate the Istanbul Sabiha Gokchen (ISG) International Airport.
Erdogan conveyed the agreement to Anwar during the meeting.
“He (Erdogan) agreed that MAHB should continue operating the ISG as they are satisfied with the success of the company in the first stage and now they want to extend (operations), including building a longer runway,” he said at a press conference after meeting with the Turkiye president.
Anwar said Turkiye strongly believed that MAHB was best suited and capable of running the ISG operations.
Although the agreement to continue operations by MAHB has been announced, Anwar said it will go through the normal process by the relevant ministry.
“This tremendous support is also a vote of confidence in the Malaysian company to develop and manage the ISG,” he added.
Fully owned by MAHB, the airport is the sixth busiest gateway in Europe, with passenger numbers reaching 25 million in 2021, which is 70 per cent of the pre-pandemic level.
At the meeting, which was also attended by Cabinet ministers from both parties, Anwar said they also discussed efforts to increase bilateral cooperation in terms of investment and trade.
Malaysia is Turkiye’s largest trading partner in Asean with a trade volume of US$4.7 billion in 2022, a 35 per cent growth from 2021.
Malaysia’s total export volume to Turkiye in 2022 reached RM17.39 billion, which is largely comprised of palm oil, palm oil-based agricultural products, metal manufacturing, textiles, clothing, footwear, electrical and electronic products and palm oil-based manufactured products.
Total imports in 2022 stood at RM2.86 billion which includes petroleum products, jewellery, iron and steel products, chemicals and chemical products, textiles, clothing and footwear. – BERNAMA
