WT/REG379/M/1  
 
23 May 2018 
(18-3031) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Eighty -eighth Session    
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT  BETWEEN TURKEY AND MALAYSIA  
(GOODS ) 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 9-10 APRIL 2018  
Chairm an: Ambassador Julian BRAITHWAITE (United Kingdom)  
1.1.  The 88th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram  WTO/AIR/RTA/13 /Rev.1  dated 2 9 March 2018. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item H.IV of the Session, the CRTA considered the  Free Trade Agreement 
between Turkey and Malaysia , goods , (hereinafter "the Agreement").  
1.3.   The Chairman  said that th e Agreement had entered into force on 1 August 2015. It had 
been notified to the WTO by the Parties on 20 February 2017 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 
1994 and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement 
establ ishing a free trade area (document WT/REG379/N/1). The text of the Agreement was 
available, together with its Annexes, on the Parties' official websites. The Factual Presentation on 
the goods aspects (document WT/REG379/1 dated 19 January 2018) and questio ns and replies on 
the Agreement (documents WT/REG379/2 and WT/REG379/2/Rev.1 dated 29 March and 6 April 
2018 respectively) had been distributed.  
1.4.  The representative of Turkey  thank ed the Secretariat for its efforts and  cooperation during 
the preparation of the factual presentation of the Agreement. She reaffirm ed Turkey's support for 
a rule s-based multilateral trading system under the WTO and strengthened WTO rules, disciplines 
and mechanisms , in particular on RTA s. 
1.5.  The negotiations between Turkey and Malaysia had  started in May 2010  and a fter nine 
rounds, the Parties successfu lly finalized the m in January 2014. The Agreement had been  signed 
on 17 April 2014 and entered into force on 1  August 2015. It was Turkey 's second FTA with an 
Asian country after the agreement with the Republic of Korea and its first FTA with a South  East 
Asian country.  
1.6.  The Agreement covered  only trade in goods issues such market access, rules of origin, 
customs procedures and facilitation, sanitary  and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to 
trade and trade remedies. It  also included  chapters on economic and technical cooperation, 
transparency and dispute settlement. The Parties would gradually liberali ze substantially all the 
trade in goods b etween them over a transitional period starting from the date of entry into force of 
the Agreement in conformity with Article XXIV of GATT 1994.  
1.7.  In terms of tariff lines, 71% of Turkey 's export and 69% of Turkey 's import had gained duty 
free access to the respective market upon the entry into force of the Agreement. Products 
considered as sensitive for Turkey and Malaysia would be subject  to a dismantling period of 3, 5 or 
8 years . On 1 January  2018, the fourth tranche of the reductions had been realised.  At the end of 
the eight year transition period,  by 1 January 2023, in terms of tariff lines, 99% of Turkey 's export 
and 86% of Turkey 's import would  be exempt from cus toms duties. However, Turkey had  also 
granted concessions as duty reductions for 322 agricultural tariff lines to Malaysia that comprise d 
almost  all agricultural export s from Malaysia to Turkey.   WT/REG379/M/1  
 
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  1.8.  With regard to rules of origin, recognising that business es could have different manufacturing 
processes and sourcing requirements for the production of the same good, the Agreement allowed  
exporters of many products to choose one of the co -equal rules that better met their benefits.  
Moreover, the Agreement foresaw  bilateral cumulation among the Parties and, for industrial 
products, regional c umulation with the European Union and ASEAN countries. Also, under the FTA 
the drawback of customs duties was allowed.   
1.9.  The first meeting of the joint committee established under the Agreement was held in Ankara 
on 5 and 6 October 2017.  
1.10.   In line with the evolutionary clause of the Agreement, Turkey and Malaysia were negotiating 
to expand the A greement into services, investment and e -commerce. The first round of the 
negotiations  had been  held on 13  and 14 March 2018. Although it was not possible to reveal th e 
details of the negotiations before their conclusion , good progress had already been achieved and 
both Parties were willing to conclude the negotiations as early as possible.  
1.11.   She thanked the Secretariat for the valuable work in the preparation of the factual 
presentation and Malaysia for the close cooperation and support.  She thank ed the European Union, 
Thailand, Peru and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu 
(hereinafter Chinese Taipei ) for their valuable questions, enabling further elaboration of the 
Agreement.  Finally she thank ed Members for their interest and participation in the Committee . 
1.12.   The representative of Malaysia  thank ed Members for the interest shown in the Agreement 
through t he submission of written questions. The Parties had duly provided the responses which 
had been circulated to M embers prior to the Session with the except ion of  the replies to Chinese 
Taipei's question which had been circulated after the deadline.  
1.13.   The Agreement was  one of the steps undertaken to enhance bilateral trade and economic 
relations between the Parties. Malaysia had enjoyed  close and friendly relations with Turkey since 
diplomatic ties had been established in 1964. Efforts to further intensify the trade and investm ent 
potential of both countries  had led to the signing of the Agreement on 17 April 2014 , which had 
subsequently entered into force on 1 August 2015. The Agreement was an important milestone in 
the economic relations between the Parties and they were committed to expand the coverage of 
the Agreement to trade in services after its entry into force.  
1.14.   Malaysia's total trade with Turkey in 2017 was valued at US$2.8 billion, an increase of more 
than 40% from the previous year. In 2017, Malaysi a's total exports to Turkey amounted to US$2.4 
billion and imports of US$360 million. Malaysia's major exports to Turkey in 2017 were , among 
others , manufactures of metal, palm oil and palm -based products, textiles, clothing and footwear, 
electronic produc ts, chemicals and chemical products . The main imports from Turkey were iron 
and steel, machinery equipment and parts, textile and apparel, chemical products and electrical 
and electronic products.  
1.15.   Malaysia and Turkey had commenced the negotiations on a bi lateral FTA in Ankara on 31 
May and 1 June 2010. A total of nine rounds of negotiations had been  held, with the final round 
held on 13  to 15 January in Ankara  following which  the Agreement had entered into force on  1 
August 2015.  The Agreement outlined  commitments by both countries to liberali ze  trade in goods 
and services as well as to enhance bilateral economic cooperation.  
1.16.   The Agreement provide d for commitments from both Parties on the liberalisation of trade in 
goods. The Parties would progressively r educe or eliminate tariffs on their respective industrial and 
agricultural products. Manufacturers exporting goods from Malaysia would enjoy cost -savings from 
the elimination of customs duties thus improving market access. The Agreement had liberalized 
45.2% of the tariff, with the objective of implementing  trade liberalization fully by 1 January 2023.  
Malaysia's commitment s involved  tariff reduction s and elimination on 98.6% of tariff lines of which  
almost 60% were duty free on an MFN basis in 2015 . Following the entry into force of the 
Agreement, 910 tariff  lines had been  further liberalized. An additional 1 ,414 line s had been  
liberalized in 2018. 2,306 lines would be liberalized in 2020  and 198 lines in 2023 , leaving 170 
lines out of the 12,247 dutiable. For Turkey, 1,690 out of 11,943  tariff lines remain ed dutiable at 
the end of the implementation period, corresponding to 14.1 %. WT/REG379/M/1  
 
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  1.17.   Under e conomic cooperation and technical cooperation, the Agreement provided  for 
economic cooperation which , among others , include d services , investment , research, development 
and innovation , small and medium enterprises , trade and development , agriculture and food 
industry , transportation, tourism , environment , intellectual property , health , energy, halal related 
areas , electronic commerce and the automotive industry. Other areas could be added through 
existing or new arrangements.  
1.18.   There were no provisions on services and investment  in the Agreement  but u nder the 
evolutionary c lause of the Agreement the Parties could agree to begin negotiations on trade in 
services within one year after the entry into force of the Agreement . The Parties had met to 
commence negotiations on services and investment  earlier in 2018 . 
1.19.   Transparency was an important pillar  of the WTO and Malaysi a was fully committed towards 
the consideration  of the Agreement. She hoped that the M embers would benefit from the exercise. 
She thank ed the Secretariat and Turkey for their cooperation throughout the process.  
1.20.   The representative of the United States  thank ed the Parties and the Secretariat for the 
review and the presentations . He noted with disappointment the large exclusions concentrated in 
the agriculture sector. The United States had  raised its concern s repeatedly with one of the Parties 
and had expected  to see an effort to address the issue without carve -outs from the Agreement. He 
urged the Parties to do more in terms of goods coverage . Looking at the non -tariff aspects, he was  
encouraged  to see interesting development s in the TBT section and  the cooper ative work that 
seemed  to be going on under the Agreement in that respect. I n particular he appreciated the 
effort s on the conformity assessm ent bodies and the use of  the International Laboratory 
Accreditation Cooperation and the International Accreditatio n Forum . Those were important trade 
facilitating measures that deserve d to be commended , as well as a number of other TBT 
Committee recommendation s and aspects of the TBT A greement included in the Agreement. One 
highlight was seeing how the Parties had embedded the Trade Facilitation Agreement (hereinafter 
TFA) into the Agreement . Negotiations  on the Agreement  had overlapped or had been  done prior 
to the TFA but one could see the important DNA of the TFA in  the document review provisions, risk 
management , the single point of entry, the comprehensive advance rulings, the electronic 
processing of customs forms, customs cooperation, the important transparency aspects of 
publication on the internet as well as administrative review and appeal . The United State s did not 
have any further questions.  
1.21.   The representative of Chinese Taipei  thanked the P arties for the comprehensive responses 
and the Secretariat for its support through the process.  
1.22.   The representative of Peru thank ed Turkey and Malaysia for the presentation s. Peru had 
formulated a written question on economic and technical cooperation and it did not have any 
further questions.  
1.23.   The Chairman  said that consideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between Turkey and Malaysia  had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of questions and it 
could now conclude oral discussion of the RTA in accordance with paragraph 11 of the 
Transparency Mechanism. If any delegations wished to ask follow -up questions they were invited 
to forward submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 16 April 2018  and Parties were asked to 
submit replies in writing by no later than 30 April 2018 . In accordance with paragraph  13 of the 
Transparency Mechanism all written submissions, as well as minutes of the meeting would be 
circulated promptly, in all WTO  official languages, and would be made available on the WTO 
website.  
1.24.   The Committee took note  of the comments made  
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