The Prime Minister is about to attend the ASEAN-GCC Summit and visit Saudi Arabia.

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - From October 18 to 20, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh led a high-level Vietnamese delegation to attend the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

At the invitation of Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will lead a high-level Vietnamese delegation to attend the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from October 18 to 20.

The GCC is a leading regional organization in the Middle East, established in 1981, comprising six Gulf states: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. Vietnam currently maintains diplomatic relations with all six GCC member countries.

ASEAN-GCC relations began in 1990, when the Omani Foreign Minister, in his capacity as Chairman of the GCC Council of Ministers, expressed the GCC's desire to establish formal relations with ASEAN.

That same year, the ASEAN and GCC foreign ministers met for the first time on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh prepares to visit Saudi Arabia (Photo: Doan Bac).

ASEAN agreed with the GCC's proposal to hold a bilateral summit on October 20 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This will be the first time senior leaders from ASEAN and the GCC have met since establishing relations in 1990.

At the Summit, ASEAN and GCC leaders are expected to discuss and comprehensively assess bilateral cooperation over the past period and set out important directions, creating new momentum for further development of ASEAN-GCC relations in the future.

The two sides will also spend time exchanging views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, and are expected to adopt a joint statement after the summit concludes.

As a core member of ASEAN, Vietnam has always demonstrated a proactive, positive, and responsible spirit, effectively contributing to strengthening relations between ASEAN and the GCC, thereby contributing to promoting Vietnam-GCC relations and bilateral relations between Vietnam and each GCC member country.

In 2018, Vietnam assumed the role of coordinating ASEAN-GCC relations, promoting the organization and, together with Kuwait, the GCC Chair in 2018, successfully co-chaired the ASEAN-GCC Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New York on September 27, 2018, on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

At this conference, both sides affirmed their commitment to expanding and deepening cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as trade, investment, energy and food security, counter-terrorism, connectivity, tourism, and promoting and protecting the rights of migrant workers.

The countries also shared a number of specific measures to promote relations between the two regions, emphasizing the need to strengthen regular exchanges at all levels, including the possibility of a biennial ministerial meeting.

Dantri.com.vn