ISTANBUL: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi concluded a four-day working visit to Turkiye on Nov 8, securing strategic partnerships spanning defence, trade, education, and regional diplomacy.
The visit centred on Ahmad Zahid’s participation in the TRT World Forum 2026 at the Istanbul Congress Centre on Nov 6, where he spoke on a panel titled "Turkiye From Regional Power to Multi-Regional Actor." During his address, he detailed expanding Malaysia-Türkiye ties through technology transfer, expertise sharing, and joint economic initiatives.
On the sidelines of the forum, Ahmad Zahid held bilateral talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The leaders reaffirmed a shared goal to increase two-way trade from US$5.51bil in 2025 to US$10bil by 2030. Their discussions extended to investments, defence, artificial intelligence, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), the halal sector, and disaster management, alongside humanitarian efforts in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.
Ahmad Zahid, who also serves as Minister of Rural and Regional Development, underscored Malaysia's role as the country coordinator for Asean-Türkiye relations to deepen inter-regional ties.
In a separate session with Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, the two delegation leaders targeted investment opportunities across semiconductors, electrical and electronics (E&E), AI, food and beverage, and rural economic empowerment.
Ahmad Zahid also met with D-8 Secretary-General Sohail Mahmood and Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tarek Mitri to discuss multilateral engagement through the Developing Eight (D-8) Organisation for Economic Cooperation and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Education and technical cooperation saw progress on Nov 7 with the signing of Letters of Cooperation (LoC) between Malaysian Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) institutions—Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia (UPTM)—and two Turkish universities, Sabanci University and Yildiz Technical University (YTU).
The agreement with Sabanci University targets joint degree programmes, curriculum alignment, and collaborative doctoral research. The partnership with YTU focuses on maritime engineering, allowing UniKL’s Institute of Marine Engineering Technology (UniKL MIMET) to utilise YTU’s wave tank testing facilities for shallow-water research.
Maritime infrastructure was further discussed during a meeting with Malaysia's Honorary Consul in Bursa, Datuk Cevdet Sefer, regarding a proposal to establish a ship maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in Bagan Datuk, Perak, using Turkish technology. Ahmad Zahid also engaged with the Turkish think tank Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) to discuss Southeast Asia-West Asia geopolitics.
Wrapping up the trip at a press conference on Sunday, Ahmad Zahid proposed reviving the International Zakat Organisation (IZO), originally formed in 2008, and voiced Malaysia's support for the D-8 target to expand intra-member trade to over US$500bil by 2030. – Bernama
