Gulf states, China take centre stage at summit of Southeast Asian nations

GCC, China, ASEAN countries pledged to promote trade and work to ‘unleash the full potential of our partnership’. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to “chart a unified and collective path towards a peaceful, prosperous, and just future”, following their meeting in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. The economic future looks bright, Nazri said, for ASEAN, China and the Gulf countries, where economies are experiencing high growth rates while the US and European Union face stagnation. “The Gulf is very rich, ASEAN is a tiger, China… I cannot even imagine where the future lies,” Nazri said. Jaideep Singh, an analyst with the Institute of Strategic & International Studies in Malaysia, said ASEAN’s trade with GCC countries has been experiencing rapid growth.