Kuala Lumpur: Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi affirmed that the Ministerial Meeting between the GCC and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is being held in an atmosphere filled with hope and aspirations for broader horizons of cooperation and partnership.
He added that it constitutes the main preparatory step paving the way for the anticipated summit between the GCC, ASEAN, and China which will take place in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
During today's Ministerial Meeting between the GCC and ASEAN that took place in the Malaysian capital, Albudaiwi said that the meeting embodies a collective commitment to push the course of this cooperation to broader and more influential horizons, adding that since the Riyadh Summit between the GCC countries and ASEAN countries in October 2023, the GCC General Secretariat has sought to keep pace with the strategic priorities approved by the leaders of both sides.
The GCC Secretary General said that trade in goods between the GCC countries and ASEAN reached about USD 122 billion in 2023, constituting more than 8 percent of the total trade in goods for the GCC.
He added that the value of GCC exports to ASEAN countries amounted to about USD 76 billion, compared to imports of about USD 46 billion.
The GCC Secretary General reiterated that the Palestinian cause will remain in the conscience of the GCC countries, as the first and central Arab and Islamic cause, and the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent, sovereign state within the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative.
Albudaiwi called for effective international action that restores hope and achieves just and lasting peace, in addition to stressing the need to deepen cooperation to ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and to address any threats to the security of vital international waterways, including targeting commercial ships and threatening maritime navigation and international trade routes, as well as oil facilities, in accordance with international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982.
