From Tashkent to Kazan and Ashgabat: Malaysia’s expanding economic diplomacy

If the “killing two birds with one stone” idiom is politically incorrect, especially with animal rights activists, killing three would be a howler even without references to monkeys! Now, semantic sensitivities aside, that’s exactly how I would describe Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s recent lightning trip to Kazan and Ashgabat, preceded by a stopover in Tashkent.

The trip is vital and opportune because the international economic order is fast undergoing one of its most pivotal periods of transformation since the end of the Cold War. Strategic competition among major powers is intensifying. Trade restrictions, sanctions, export controls, and industrial policies have become increasingly common instruments of statecraft.