ASEAN-GCC Foreign Ministers' Meeting: Transforming commitments and potentials into specific cooperation projects and programs

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting held on the afternoon of May 25 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son emphasized that ASEAN and the GCC need to continue to promote their pioneering role in promoting dialogue and multilateralism. (Source: Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

The conference reviewed the implementation of two important documents between ASEAN and the GCC, including the Joint Statement of the ASEAN-GCC Leaders adopted in 2023 and the Cooperation Framework 2024-2028.

The countries assessed that although certain results have been achieved, the need and potential for cooperation between the two regions is still very large, especially in areas of strength and complementarity between the two regions such as trade, investment, energy cooperation, finance, connectivity and people-to-people exchange... Accordingly, the Conference agreed that ASEAN and the GCC need to work together to make more efforts to transform commitments and cooperation potentials between the two sides into specific cooperation projects and programs.

From the historic milestone of the first ASEAN-GCC Summit in 2023, the countries believe that the second ASEAN-GCC Summit taking place on May 27, 2025 will create new momentum, open up new directions, and bring cooperation increasingly into substance and effectiveness in all fields of politics -security, economics, trade, investment, finance, connectivity, culture-society, people-to-people exchange, etc., for peace, stability and sustainable development in both regions.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son emphasized that in the context of an increasingly fragmented and uncertain world , ASEAN and the GCC need to strengthen cooperation to promote peace, stability, uphold multilateralism and a rules-based international order.

The conference agreed that ASEAN and the GCC need to work together to make more efforts to transform commitments and cooperation potentials between the two sides into specific cooperation projects and programs. (Source: Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

With great potential for cooperation, ASEAN and the GCC need to continue to accelerate the implementation of the Cooperation Framework 2024–2028 on the basis of identifying key areas in each phase, in order to optimize available resources. Accordingly, the two sides can choose priority areas for each year, which are complementary and in line with the interests of both sides, such as trade-investment, connectivity, digital transformation, energy and Halal economy. In particular, connectivity plays a key role in opening up new flows of goods, investment capital, and people between the two regions with a population of 750 million people and a GDP of more than 5,000 billion USD.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister emphasized that cooperation mechanisms need to continue to be improved, with priority given to improving the effectiveness of coordination between the ASEAN Secretariat and the GCC Secretariat, as well as between the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN and the Ambassadors of the GCC countries in Jakarta, in order to create a regular information exchange channel; at the same time, mobilizing the active participation of specialized agencies to soon put commitments into concrete implementation.

As two leading regional organizations, ASEAN and the GCC need to continue to promote their pioneering role in promoting dialogue, multilateralism, supporting international law-based order and peaceful settlement of disputes. On that basis, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister reaffirmed Vietnam's consistent stance in supporting peace and stability in the Middle East, promoting diplomatic efforts and dialogue to reach a fair and sustainable solution, in accordance with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/hoi-nghi-bo-truong-ngoai-giao-asean-gcc-chuyen-hoa-cac-cam-ket-tiem-nang-thanh-du-an-chuong-trinh-hop-tac-cu-the-315535.html