MTFTA should be one of the successes of strengthening trade with strategic partner countries, particularly in the palm oil sector. Since the successful introduction of MTFTA, palm oil imports have jumped about 35 per cent of market share ahead of MTFTA to reach a market share of 97 per cent. Imports of Malaysian palm oil increased from just 181,959 MT in 2014 to more than 1 million MT in 2019. Malaysia – Free Trade Agreement with Turkey (MTFTA) was signed by YB. Dato` Sri Mustapa Mohamed Minister of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia, and Hon. Nihat Zeybekci, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Turkey, on April 17, 2014 in Ankara, Turkey, after nine rounds of negotiations. The agreement came into force on August 1, 2015. It was Turkey`s second free trade agreement with an Asian country after South Korea and the first country in Southeast Asia. However, to take advantage of this, Malaysian companies must set up a production site in order to obtain a rule of Turkish origin, in accordance with Article 5 of the trade agreement. In Turkey, raw materials (refined palm oil) from Malaysia could be processed into industrial food ingredients or cooking fats and margarines for reallocating to these markets.

Reconditioning in branded products is also an alternative that deserves to be considered, but it must be in accordance with the rule of origin. Further assessment of eligibility would require further country-based study, as each could be deferred with respect to the tariff lag, regional value content and de minimis threshold. The following agreements have been replaced by the EU-Turkey customs union: for industrial products, 70% of the tariffs of both parties were immediately duty-free as soon as the free trade agreement came into force, while for products considered sensitive to Turkey and Malaysia, 3, 5 or 8 years of mining are required. Currently, the free trade agreement covers only trade in goods, including market access, rules of origin, customs procedures and facilities, health and plant health measures, technical barriers to trade and trade assistance. It also includes chapters on economic and technical cooperation, transparency and dispute resolution. The agreement also includes an “evolving clause” (Article 14.3) which provides that one year after the agreement enters into force, the contracting parties will begin negotiations on trade in services and explanatory discussions on investments in order to broaden the scope of the free trade agreement.