TODAY, Feb 15, Turkmenistan Airlines, the national carrier of Turkmenistan, will have its inaugural flight from Ashgabat to Kuala Lumpur.
After more than 30 years of relations between Malaysia and Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan Airlines has decided to join its brother Central Asian republics, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and establish a direct flight to Malaysia.
It is expected to fly direct flights twice a week, using the Ashgabat-Kuala Lumpur-Ashgabat route. There are already plans to increase the frequency.
Turkmenistan Airlines' flights are expected to bring more Turkmens to Malaysia.
Turkmens enjoy a 90-day visa- free entry into Malaysia. Malay-sians need a visa to enter Turkmenistan.
While many countries have done away with physical appointments for visa applications, Malaysians wanting to go to Turkmenistan must apply at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Among the documents needed is a letter of invitation from a sponsor in Turkmenistan. The processing time takes 10 to 15 days. This is perhaps one of the main reasons why Turkmenistan is known as one of the least-visited countries in Asia.
Its population of only six million people, in a country about 1½ times the size of Malaysia, has made it somewhat of an isolationist. Most tourists visit Turkmenistan as part of a guided tour that includes two or more of the other central Asian republics.
On the upside this means that Malaysia looks like a better bet as a tourist destination for Turkmens.
When asked what were his impressions of being posted in Malaysia, Turkmen ambassador Muhammetnyazz Mashalov said: "I feel great in Malaysia during my stay, (visiting) wonderful places and (interacting) among friendly people."
Considering that Malaysia was one of the first countries in Asia to establish diplomatic ties with Turkmenistan, Malaysia should have been in a prime position in terms of its relations with this landlocked republic.
But somewhere over these three decades, that advantage was lost.
These days, Turkmenistan's biggest trading partners are Turkiye, China and Russia.
It trades primarily in natural gas, becoming the world's fourth largest exporter, and also exports petroleum and refined petrol-eum.
Perhaps one of the reasons why Malaysia cannot get a foothold in Turkmenistan lies in the list of the country's imports, nearly all of which Malaysia would have difficulty in supplying.
These include planes, helicopters, spacecraft and cars.
Only this last item would be of interest to Malaysia, but with a small population that is widely dispersed, Turkmenistan represents a small market for exporters.
Ambassador Mohd Suhaimi Ahmad Tajuddin, who heads Malaysia's embassy in Ashgabat, presented his credentials to the republic's president in November last year.
He has been hard at work establishing contacts and reaching out to interested parties.
Already, there is a long wishlist of items that he plans on executing, including high-level visits. This aspiration is shared by ambassador Mashalov.
"We plan to organise bilateral visits at the highest levels this year," he has said repeatedly to friends and contacts alike.
For now, he plans to greet the first passengers off the plane when the Turkmenistan Airlines flight lands at KLIA.
He has reason to be proud. It is not every day that a serving ambassador gets to plan and see his plan to fruition.
The writer is a foreign service officer who has served in bilateral and multilateral posts