Anwar: Proposed carbon tax not hindrance for investors
PARIS: As the proposed carbon tax is being finalised, the government today gave an assurance that its implementation will not create a problem for investors.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he knew that the trend towards decarbonisation is strong and compelling.
"But I think we have to be very realistic. The proposed carbon tax should not be seen as too problematic at the expense of investing companies,' he said during a question and answer session at the Roundtable Meeting with Captains of Industry in Paris, the capital of France on Friday.
Also present were Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Transport Minister Anthony Loke, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
Anwar, who is here on a two-day official visit, said the implementation has to be done cautiously and gradually.
"We are finalising that in the next few months actually,' he said, adding that they are looking at sectors that are the biggest carbon emitters first.
Despite the palm oil industry being an important sector for Malaysia, Anwar said any new plantations on peat soil have been stopped due to its high carbon emissions.
The government is planning to introduce the carbon tax in 2026, specifically targeting the iron, steel and energy industries.
It is part of the government's broader strategy to promote the use of low-carbon technologies and meet emission reduction goals.
Industry leaders who attended the session with the Prime Minister praised the government and the country for providing a good investment climate in Malaysia.
On tourism, Anwar said the number of tourists from France visiting Malaysia has increased tremendously.
"We have direct flights from Paris now. You can swim the whole year due to our favourable climate,' he quipped, citing the newly introduced Kuala Lumpur-Paris route by Malaysia Airlines.
Anwar also assured French companies considering investments in Malaysia or the ASEAN region that both represent some of the fastest-growing and most dynamic economies in the world. - Bernama
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
16 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Geoeconomics of trade: Djibouti, the Suez Canal, and the business logic of geography
Introduction: When the Map Shapes the Mandate In global affairs, maps do more than illustrate borders—they reveal strategic imperatives. A country's geography is not simply its physical terrain; it is the architecture of its constraints, its possibilities, and its vulnerabilities. While resources, institutions, and leadership matter, geography imposes structural conditions that no policymaker can escape. The truism "Geography is destiny" is not deterministic—but it is profoundly instructive. Geography Is Destiny: From Slogans to Strategy The phrase, often attributed to Napoleon and echoed by thinkers from Halford Mackinder to Robert Kaplan, encapsulates how natural features—mountains, rivers, chokepoints, deserts—can shape a nation's developmental path and geopolitical weight. Geography defines what a country must defend, who it must trade with, and how it might project power. In essence, geography offers both opportunity and entrapment. Two case studies—Djibouti and the Suez Canal—offer sharp illustrations of this truth. They are not economic superpowers in themselves, but they sit astride arteries through which the lifeblood of global trade flows. Their strategic value is not what they produce, but where they are. Djibouti: Geography as Leverage Djibouti, a small nation on the Horn of Africa, lacks arable land, natural resources, and a large domestic market. And yet, it punches far above its weight on the global stage. Why? Because it commands the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—a chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, through which roughly 10 per cent of global seaborne trade passes. More importantly, it serves as the maritime gateway between Europe and Asia, particularly for oil shipments and container cargo. This geographical positioning has transformed Djibouti into a global military hub, hosting bases for the U.S., France, China, and others. Each is vying for influence over this narrow corridor. Djibouti has used this to extract rents, attract foreign investment, and enhance its geopolitical relevance. It is geography turned into strategy. The Suez Canal: Control the Chokepoint, Shape the Century The Suez Canal is another potent example. Artificial, yes—but geopolitical in the extreme. Completed in 1869, the canal sliced through Egypt to link the Mediterranean and Red Seas, radically reducing travel time between Europe and Asia. Control over Suez has repeatedly shifted the global power balance: • In 1956, Egypt's nationalization of the canal by President Nasser triggered the Suez Crisis, a turning point in the decline of British and French imperial influence. • In 2021, the blockage of the canal by the Ever Given container ship—a black swan logistical event—froze $9 billion worth of trade per day, underscoring the fragility and significance of chokepoints in the modern economy. The Suez Canal does not merely move ships. It moves empires, markets, and military doctrines. Geopolitics: When Geography Meets Power Geopolitics is the study of how geography informs the behavior of states. It explains why Russia fears encirclement, why the U.S. prioritizes naval supremacy, and why China builds artificial islands in the South China Sea. Geography, in this context, is the stage upon which states act, and geopolitics is the script they follow in pursuit of survival, status, and security. Djibouti and Suez are prime examples of how static features—location, proximity, terrain—can make a place valuable, vulnerable, or volatile. Black Swan Events, Geopolitics & Geoeconomics: Fragility in the Fault Lines Black swan events—rare, unpredictable shocks—often expose the latent geopolitical and geoeconomic dependencies created by geography. The Ever Given was one such event. So was the COVID-19 pandemic, which revealed just how vulnerable the world's supply chains are to localized disruptions. The Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait are not just maritime shortcuts. They are single points of failure. A naval standoff, a pirate attack, a natural disaster—any one of these could ricochet across global markets in hours. Thus, geographic chokepoints become economic pressure points. In an age of interconnected commerce, geopolitics and geoeconomics have merged. Who controls the strait can influence shipping rates, insurance premiums,and commodity prices. The geography is permanent—but the shocks are episodic, and they test a state's resilience. Geostrategy and Geoeconomics: From Presence to Power Projection Geostrategy is how a nation translates its geography into power—militarily, diplomatically, and economically. It is not enough to possess a strategic location; one must know how to leverage it. • Djibouti has pursued a rentier geostrategy—offering land and logistics for global powers while investing in port infrastructure. • Egypt, under successive regimes, has used the Suez Canal as a fiscal lifeline, generating billions in toll revenue, while aligning itself with the interests of major powers to maintain canal security. Geoeconomics complements this by turning geography into a commercial and strategic asset. Both Djibouti and Egypt seek to monetize their location—through logistics, trade facilitation, and foreign investment. But this comes with dependency risks: the same foreign presence that brings stability can also invite entanglement. Today, the geoeconomic toolkit includes not only toll revenue or basing rights, but also: • Foreign debt diplomacy (as seen in Chinese Belt and Road projects), • Competing logistics corridors (like the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor vs. China's BRI), • And regional port competition (e.g., between Port Sudan, Berbera, and Djibouti itself). These instruments allow states to amplify the value of geography into policy leverage and economic influence—turning location into strategy, and infrastructure into influence. History and Geography: A Feedback Loop in Geopolitics History is not just context—it is an amplifier. Past events shape the strategic imagination of nations. Egypt's experience with colonial exploitation, followed by the nationalization of the Suez Canal, still informs its statecraft. Djibouti's colonial legacy and post-independence struggle for relevance explain its current foreign base diplomacy. Historical memory guides current alliances, threat perceptions, and even public sentiment. In geopolitics, the past doesn't just echo—it instructs. Conclusion: The Compass and the Clock To understand a nation's place in the world, you must look at both the compass and the clock—its geography and its history. Geography imposes structure; history provides narrative. Together, they shape geopolitics, condition geostrategy, and expose the world to black swan risks with outsize consequences. Djibouti and the Suez Canal are reminders that small places can have oversized impacts—not because of what they are, but because of where they are. Geography is not just destiny. It is design—and in the hands of those who understand it, it becomes destiny by design. ———————————————————— Economist Samirul Ariff Othman is an adjunct lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Petronas, international relations analyst and a senior consultant with Global Asia Consulting. The views in this OpEd piece are entirely his own.
Barnama
20 minutes ago
- Barnama
SEANWFZ Committee Meeting Set For Today Ahead Of ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Talks
By Yasmin Ahmad Zukiman KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 (Bernama) -- The meeting of the Executive Committee of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) will be held today, in conjunction with the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) and related meetings. The SEANWFZ meeting is expected to revisit ASEAN's long-standing efforts to preserve the region as a nuclear weapon-free zone, as outlined in the 1995 SEANWFZ Treaty. While all 10 ASEAN member states have ratified the treaty, efforts to secure the signatures of the five recognised nuclear-weapon states – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – to the treaty's protocol remain ongoing. Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan had previously stated that China and Russia have agreed to sign the protocol, while the United States is still reviewing the treaty. Also taking place today are the ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) and the Drafting Committee of the ASEAN SOM, which will prepare the groundwork for ministerial-level discussions, including negotiating and finalising the Joint Communique which will be the key outcome document of the 58th AMM. The communique is expected to outline ASEAN's collective positions on regional integration, community-building and various regional and global issues. The 58th AMM and related meetings, to be held under Malaysia's 2025 ASEAN Chairmanship themed 'Inclusivity and Sustainability,' will feature 24 ministerial-level meetings, including engagements with ASEAN Dialogue Partners and Sectoral Dialogue Partners. The high-level meetings, to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) from July 8 to 11, will gather about 1,500 delegates.
The Sun
26 minutes ago
- The Sun
Anwar meets Vietnamese PM Chinh at BRICS summit in Rio
RIO DE JANEIRO: Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim held talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the BRICS Leaders' Summit in Brazil. The meeting focused on strengthening bilateral ties, with discussions spanning trade, energy, and maritime cooperation. Anwar was joined by Transport Minister Anthony Loke and Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz. Also present was Datuk Ahmad Rozian Abd Ghani, deputy secretary-general for Bilateral Affairs at Malaysia's Foreign Ministry. This marks the third high-level engagement between the two leaders this year, following their meetings at the 46th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur and the ASEAN Future Forum in Hanoi. Malaysia remains Vietnam's third-largest ASEAN trading partner and ninth globally, with bilateral trade hitting US$14.2 billion in 2024. Both nations aim to boost this figure to US$18 billion by year-end. Key topics included enhancing cooperation in defence, fisheries, and green energy. Anwar emphasised the need for joint efforts to combat illegal fishing while ensuring sustainable marine resource management. He also backed renewable energy investments in southern Vietnam, including an undersea cable project to improve regional energy connectivity under the ASEAN Power Grid initiative. 'I look forward to further discussions at the ASEAN Summit in October to deepen our strategic partnership,' Anwar said. - Bernama
