On 4-5 February 2025, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev paid an official visit to Malaysia at the invitation of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. This return visit, which comes just 9 months after the two leaders met in Tashkent in May 2024, highlights the high level of mutual trust and the parties' desire to strengthen bilateral relations.

This fact demonstrates that Uzbekistan and Malaysia are not limited to a declaration of intentions, but are actively implementing them.

The agenda of the current Uzbek-Malaysian events at the highest level was extremely rich and laid the foundation for further strengthening of mutually beneficial partnership in several priority areas.

The first is the intensification of cooperation in the field of industrial cooperation. Of particular interest to our country is Malaysia's experience in developing the semiconductor industry. Ranking 6th in the world in semiconductor exports, this country demonstrates impressive results. Malaysia's achievements in strategic planning, marketing and infrastructure development can be especially useful for Uzbekistan, which has deposits of more than 30 rare earth and non-ferrous metals, including lithium, magnesium, molybdenum, germanium, vanadium and indium.

In this context, the agreement on the creation of a special economic zone in the Tashkent region under the management of a leading Malaysian company, as well as the announcement of 2025-2026 as a period of innovative development of the Uzbek-Malaysian partnership, are of great importance.

The second key area is cooperation in the field of education and human capital development. Human resources are the main wealth of any society and the main criterion for socio-economic progress. For Uzbekistan, where more than 60% of the population is young people, issues of education, training specialists and revealing the creative potential of citizens are of paramount importance.

In this context, Malaysia appears to be a promising partner. The country has a developed higher education system, including 20 public and 50 private universities, as well as branches of leading world universities. Attracting more than 130 thousand foreign students, Malaysia ranks 11th among the most popular destinations for international education. Such cooperation opens up opportunities for exchanging experiences and introducing modern educational practices.

An important step in this direction was the agreement reached during the visit on training highly qualified personnel at Petronas University.

Another potentially beneficial vector for strengthening bilateral partnership is cooperation in the field of halal production. According to the latest data, this segment of the global market is experiencing a peak in growth. By 2025, its volume is expected to reach $2.4 trillion with an annual growth of 3.5%.

Malaysia is deservedly considered a world leader in this field, and its achievements in developing the halal economy have received international recognition. The widespread use of Malaysian Halal certification, which has been adopted in more than 100 countries, is impressive.

Uzbekistan, as a country with a predominantly Muslim population, shows significant interest in the development of this industry. Partnership with Malaysia can become a catalyst for increasing the competitiveness of Uzbek products in the world market.

In general, summing up the results of the visit, we can confidently state that Uzbek-Malaysian relations have entered a qualitatively new phase of development. Intensive cooperation at the highest level, supported by specific economic initiatives and institutional mechanisms, lays a solid foundation for a long-term strategic partnership.

In turn, the implementation of the agreements reached opens up broad prospects for modernizing the economy of Uzbekistan, creating new jobs and improving the well-being of the population. In addition, fruitful cooperation with Malaysia strengthens the position of our country as a reliable partner in Central Asia and contributes to the diversification of foreign economic relations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Sarvar Rakhmatullayev,

Leading Researcher, Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan