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| Ceremony to welcome Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. (Source: VNA) |
The first ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit was held in Saudi Arabia from October 18-20, marking an important milestone in the development of ASEAN-GCC relations. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh led a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to attend the summit and visit Saudi Arabia.
Sharing about the ASEAN-GCC Summit, Ambassador Vu Ho, Acting Head of ASEAN SOM Vietnam, stated that the relationship between Southeast Asia and the Gulf region has existed for a long time, connected like “silk threads” born from the intersection of the two lands. This ASEAN-GCC Summit will be the “loom” to weave those “silk threads” together to create a beautiful tapestry.
According to Ambassador Vu Ho, Vietnam - a member of ASEAN will contribute to making this "loom" stronger and the "carpet" more colorful, creating harmony and sustainability for the ASEAN - GCC relationship.
Meet the needs from both sides
The ASEAN-GCC relationship is long-standing because the “fate” between these two regions began in 1990 when the Foreign Minister of Oman, in his role 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. The ASEAN and GCC Secretariats officially established relations in 2009.
For decades, the two sides have maintained contact and meetings mainly through ASEAN-GCC Foreign Ministers' Meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and official ASEAN-GCC Foreign Ministers' Meetings held in a GCC or ASEAN member country. To date, the two sides have held three official ASEAN-GCC Foreign Ministers' Meetings in 2009 (in Manama, Bahrain), 2010 (in Singapore) and 2013 (in Manama, Bahrain).
The GCC countries basically implement a moderate foreign policy, promote the Look East policy, and pay attention to cooperation with Southeast Asia. Currently, all GCC members have sent Ambassadors to ASEAN and joined the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC). ASEAN has established ASEAN Committees in the capitals of all GCC member countries.
This first summit between ASEAN and the GCC is of great significance, meeting the needs of both sides. According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dang Xuan Dung, the ASEAN-GCC Summit takes place in the context of the increasingly affirmed role of ASEAN and the GCC in the region and the world. Moreover, ASEAN and the GCC have great potential to develop relations in many fields, especially in economics and labor.
Ambassador Dang Xuan Dung analyzed that the countries in the GCC have high economic growth rates, social changes, positive development, and young populations. The total population of the GCC region has nearly doubled in 20 years, from 26.2 million in 1995 to 56.4 million in 2021, largely due to the sharp increase in the number of migrant workers in the region. According to 2021 statistics, the total population of ASEAN countries is estimated at 666.19 million people, nearly 12 times higher than the population of GCC countries. ASEAN has an abundant labor force, contributing significantly to the labor force in GCC countries, and is also a very large market for export goods from GCC countries.
With large revenues from oil and gas, GCC countries own the world's leading investment funds such as UAE Investment Authority (estimated assets of 850 billion USD), PIF (Saudi Arabia, estimated assets of about 603 million USD), QIA (Qatar, estimated assets of 170 billion USD) and are the target of many countries in attracting investment capital. This could be an opportunity for ASEAN countries to attract investment capital.
Therefore, Ambassador Dang Xuan Dung said that the documents expected to be reached within the framework of this high-level meeting will create more foundation and momentum to promote the enhancement of relations between the two blocs, especially in areas of cooperation with great potential such as economy, trade, culture and people-to-people exchange.
At the conference, ASEAN and GCC leaders will discuss important orientations, creating new momentum to further develop ASEAN-GCC relations in the coming time, spending time discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, and are expected to adopt a Joint Statement after the conference ends.
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| Riyadh city leaders welcome Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. (Source: VNA) |
Vietnam is strongly committed and responsible.
Vietnam contributes to adding more color to the ASEAN-GCC “carpet”. As a core member of ASEAN, Vietnam always promotes a proactive, positive and responsible spirit in strengthening relations between the two regions.
The enduring “silk threads” were created by Vietnam in its efforts to promote ASEAN-GCC relations in general and relations between Vietnam and each GCC member in particular. In 2018, Vietnam assumed the role of coordinator of ASEAN-GCC relations, promoting the organization and successfully co-chairing the ASEAN-GCC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the sidelines of the 73rd UN General Assembly. At this conference, the two 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, promoting and protecting the rights of migrant workers, and people-to-people exchanges.
Notably, all six GCC member countries are Vietnam's priority cooperation partners in the Middle East - Africa with relations spanning many fields including politics, diplomacy, trade, investment, ODA, labor... Vietnam and four GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE) have opened embassies in each other's countries.
Trade turnover between Vietnam and regional countries reached 12.5 billion USD. The total direct investment (FDI) capital of GCC countries in Vietnam is currently about 1 billion USD. There are currently about 11,000 Vietnamese workers working in GCC countries. Currently in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia has seven investment projects, Kuwait has two investment projects with about more than 3 billion USD. UAE investors are also very interested and investing in Vietnam with a total registered capital of about 74 million USD.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Mr. Abdulrahman Al Zamil, Chairman of Zamil Group. (Source: VNA) |
Enhancing the effectiveness of Vietnam-Saudi Arabia cooperation
According to Ambassador Dang Xuan Dung, this working trip of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to Saudi Arabia is the highest-level delegation exchange activity between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia since the visit of former President Nguyen Minh Triet (April 2010); and takes place as the two countries prepare to celebrate the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations in 2024.
In that context, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit contributed to consolidating political trust, deepening cooperation, and elevating bilateral relations to become more substantive and effective in all aspects of politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, investment, and labor, especially promoting specific cooperation in the fields of trade and investment to attract investment in the fields of green growth, infrastructure, energy, industry, high technology, etc. in Vietnam, creating conditions for Vietnamese agricultural products to penetrate the Saudi Arabian market, and promoting Saudi Arabia to increase the acceptance of highly skilled Vietnamese workers.
During the working trip, a number of Memorandums of Understanding are expected to be signed, contributing to strengthening bilateral cooperation in specific areas.
According to Ambassador Dang Xuan Dung, the relationship between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia has recently seen many remarkable developments in many areas such as politics, trade, tourism, etc. The two countries have many things in common such as their increasing role in the region, open foreign policies and strengthening friendly relations with other countries, socio-economic development policies and plans that focus on serving people and businesses. Saudi Arabia is Vietnam's leading economic partner in the Middle East. In the first seven months of 2023, Vietnam exported over 608.2 million USD to Saudi Arabia, an increase of more than 60% over the same period in 2022, and imported over 956.5 million USD, a decrease of 11.4%. The trade deficit of goods has decreased from over 699 million USD to over 348 million USD, showing that Vietnamese products are increasingly affirming their position in this market.
Thus, from both multilateral and bilateral perspectives, this working trip of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to the Gulf region is of great significance, both demonstrating with ASEAN countries a new, independent, united, and developing mindset, affirming values and central roles; and consolidating political trust and improving the effectiveness of cooperation between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia.
| The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is the leading regional organization in the Middle East consisting of six member states in the Gulf region: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. |
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