KUALA LUMPUR: Asean is looking into accelerating Turkiye’s status upgrade from a sectoral dialogue partner to a full dialogue partner, given the country’s active and constructive engagement with the regional bloc, said Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
The Foreign Minister, who chaired the trilateral meeting between Asean, Turkiye and the Asean Secretariat on Friday (July 11) morning, said Turkiye had shown a strong commitment to strengthening its ties with Asean through various collaborative initiatives.
“Turkiye has played a commendable role as a sectoral dialogue partner,” he said after the meeting.
“They’ve worked with us across multiple sectors including technology, security, defence and agriculture.
“Turkiye has also provided scholarships for students from Asean countries,” he added.
Mohamad said these efforts have prompted Asean to explore mechanisms to bring Turkiye on board as a full dialogue partner “in the near future”.
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Currently, Turkiye is among several countries awaiting elevation in their partnership status with Asean.
However, Mohamad acknowledged that the process remains constrained by an ongoing moratorium.
“There are many countries in the queue right now, applying to be sectoral or full dialogue partners.
“But Asean has imposed a moratorium because the number of dialogue partners has grown considerably,” he said.
Asean’s current dialogue partners include major powers such as China, the United States, the European Union and India.
Sectoral dialogue partners, meanwhile, engage with Asean in selected areas of cooperation but are not yet granted the same privileges or access as full dialogue partners.
