ISTANBUL, Jan 9 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s official visit to Turkiye forms part of Malaysia’s strategic efforts to review and strengthen the implementation of existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), said Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani.

Johari, who was among the accompanying ministers during the three-day official visit which ended yesterday, said the approach is in line with a changing global economic landscape that is increasingly leaning towards domestic market protection.

He said the move is timely as many countries are now adopting a more inward-looking approach, making it crucial for Malaysia to maximise the benefits of the 17 FTAs it has signed, including with Turkiye.

Johari said Malaysia could no longer rely solely on the existence of FTAs without actively ensuring that they deliver tangible outcomes for all parties involved.

“So I want to visit all these FTAs that we have signed. We go to every country and look at what benefit they have got from us in the past and what benefit we have got from them.

“We want to intensify this collaboration because everyone is inward looking. So we cannot simply go to any country without capitalising on this position,” he told reporters here in conjunction with the Prime Minister’s official visit to Turkiye.

He said the visit to Turkiye marked the first step in reviewing the effectiveness of the bilateral FTA, including identifying factors contributing to the imbalance in trade and investment flows between the two countries.

“And next time we can start looking at some other countries. I say it’s more meaningful to meet all the businessmen and listen to the issues.

“Why have we signed FTAs but have not seen investment or trade coming to us? And why do we see our trade only going to them but not vice versa?” he added.

Johari said direct engagement with the business community is important to better understand challenges on the ground, while fostering trust between trading partners to facilitate broader economic cooperation.

He said efforts to strengthen FTAs must go hand in hand with the empowerment of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which remain the backbone of Malaysia’s economy.

“Every time when we do this, we want to make sure that our SMEs will be able to penetrate all this using our FTAs because at the end of the day, we can bring all the big companies here.

“Yes, certain industries we need them. We need new technology. We need artificial intelligence technologies that come from big developed countries but our strength is how we develop our SMEs and allow them to go into all these FTA countries to expand their market,” he said.

Johari said the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) plays an important role in assisting SMEs to access international markets, but their contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) remains an area that requires greater focus.

“Right now, SMEs contribution to GDP is only 39 per cent. Ten years ago, it was 37 per cent. So in 10 years, it increased only two per cent but GDP has grown by almost 68 per cent in the last 10 years. Now we are at RM1.9 trillion. This is something we need to look at,” he said. — Bernama