Textile and apparel exports from the Southeast Asian nation of Malaysia are set to benefit as the Malaysia-Turkey Free Trade Agreement (MTFTA) will come into effect on August 1, 2015, according to Malaysian media reports.
The MTFTA signed in April 2014 envisages an increase in bilateral trade from $969 million in 2013 to $5 billion by 2020.
Upon its entry into force on August 1, duties on 70 per cent of tariff lines will come down to zero, and after a period of eight years, duties will be reduced/eliminated for almost 86 per cent of tariff lines, Malaysian minister of international trade and industry Seri Mustapa Mohamed said in a statement.
Textiles and apparel, which make up Malaysia’s largest export item to Turkey, are among the products that will benefit from immediate duty-free treatment in Turkey, said Mohamed and urged businesses to increase their exports to Turkey. From August 1, Turkey will also eliminate all existing additional duties (ranging from 20 per cent to 30 per cent) on textiles, apparel and footwear, which currently affect more than a thousand tariff lines.
“Turkey, with a population of 74 million people, holds vast market potential. I urge the Malaysian business community to take full advantage of the opportunities offered under this FTA, which can also help strengthen bilateral trade and economic linkages on a long-term basis,” Mustapa said in the statement.
Malaysia already has FTAs in place with member countries of Asean, and with India, Australia, China, Pakistan, Japan, Chile and New Zealand.
