Malaysia And Turkey Announce Lifting Of Visa Requirements

From Khairdzir Yunus

ANKARA, Feb 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Turkey have agreed to lift the visa requirements for their citizens to travel to each other's country.

This was announced at a joint press conference by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan after their four-eyed meeting, which was followed by a delegation meeting between the Malaysian and Turkish delegations, at the Prime Minister's Office here Tuesday.

"We have decided that there will be no visa requirements between our two countries which is also a momentous and significant decision that will definitely enhance people to people contact between our two countries," Najib said.

"Of course, we have very much in common between our two countries. Some of us also have the same origin and we need to rediscover that heritage that we have. We should not take it for granted, we should rediscover that, and that could be a very strong basis for much closer people to people relationship," he added.

Currently, ordinary and official passport holders of Malaysia or Turkey are exempt from visa for their travels up to 90 days.

In a move to foster closer relations between the people of the two countries, Erdogan also announced that Turkey would declare a "Malaysia Year" in Turkey soon, to which Najib responded that Malaysia would reciprocate the move.

Erdogan also announced that Turkey's national carrier, the Turkish Airlines, would resume its direct flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Najib thanked Erdogan for agreeing to the resumption of the Turkish Airlines' direct flight to Malaysia, and added that: "We will look at increasing our frequency and more flights from Kuala Lumpur to Turkey."

Najib said that he was glad to hear that his visit was very much awaited in Turkey since the last official visit by a Malaysian Prime Minister to this country was 28 years ago, and he was delighted that he was able to make the visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Erdogan.

The Malaysian Prime Minister said they had "very warm and very productive" discussions during the meeting by both sides as well as during the preceding private meeting between him and Erdogan.

He said the most important thing that had been decided was to elevate their bilateral relationships towards achieving strategic level.

"And for this reason we will work towards an agreement, the draft agreement of which has been submitted to the Malaysian side and we are studying the framework agreement and hoped that this agreement can be signed by the end of this year and to add substance to the strategic framework agreement.

"We also decided that the FTA agreement between Malaysia and Turkey should also be signed simultaneously and in this regard, I have extended an invitation to my brother Prime Minister Erdogan to visit Malaysia at the end of this year so that we can sign two very momentous and significant agreements that will open a new chapter, in fact, a new era, between the two countries," he said.

On Erdogan's suggestion that the trade volume between both countries be increased from the current US$1.2 billion to US$5 billion, Najib said that US$5 billion was not an ambitious target for them to try to achieve in the near future.

"We will definitely improve the level of trade between the two countries. 1.2 billion US dollars doesn't do justice to the importance of bilateral cooperation and I cannot agree more with the (Turkish) prime minister," he said.

He said both leaders were also looking at areas to expand between the two countries and two specific possibilities that had been identified were the automobile industry and the oil and gas industry.

On the current uprising and unrest in a few Muslim countries, Najib said the only solution to ensure stability in the Muslim world which was undergoing a traumatic period right now was for them to adopt good governance that was based on the principle of democracy with the necessary adjustments according to the country's peculiarities and needs.

"But it is important that we listen to the people and the people must be given the right kind of avenues for them to express their aspirations and their hopes for the future," he said.

Najib, who arrived in Istanbul on Monday, is on a three-day official visit to Turkey, his first since assuming the premiership in April 2009.

He is accompanied by Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, as well as several cabinet ministers, members of Parliament and senior government officials.

On the last day of his visit on Wednesday, Najib will participate in the Malaysia-Turkey Business Roundtable Talks organized by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) and the Global Movement for Justice, Peace and Dignity (Kemuliaan Insan) co-organised by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) and International Movement for a Just World (JUST), which will all be held in Istanbul.

-- BERNAMA

Source: Bernama.
Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=565819.