00:00Now we turn our attention to the burgeoning relationship between ASEAN and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
00:06Is this partnership moving towards a real strategic alignment or is it at risk
00:12of becoming a symbolic alliance without meaningful substance?
00:16We put that question to ISIS Malaysia's Director of Foreign Policy and Security Studies, Thomas Daniel.
00:23I think initiatives like these are both symbolic and meaningful.
00:27They needn't to just be one or the other.
00:30In the case of the second ASEAN GCC Summit, which just took place perhaps,
00:34it has a bit more to it than just only symbolism.
00:38So this summit builds on the first summit, which was held in Riyadh two years ago,
00:42and there is an existing framework for engagement,
00:45the ASEAN GCC Framework of Cooperation that runs from 2024 till 2028.
00:51Now, the framework covers a range of targeted areas
00:54that largely reflects the three ASEAN communities
00:57that both organizations commit to greater engagement on.
01:03So what this means is that since 2023,
01:05we have seen a number of smaller engagements between ASEAN and GCC
01:11that reflects issues beyond just trade and investment, right?
01:16And these often fly below the radar.
01:17So you see, you know, meetings on topics like climate and energy transition,
01:21the digital economy, law enforcement, cooperation,
01:25and these are just some that I'm aware of.
01:28You know, you see a commitment by ASEAN and GCC foreign ministers
01:31to meet annually on the sidelines of Anga in New York.
01:35And even the secretariats of the GCC and ASEAN have increased engagements
01:40through their community of permanent representatives
01:42and the ambassadors based in Jakarta.
01:46So the relationship has certainly come a long way
01:49from that side meeting in Anga in 1990,
01:52where the FMs of ASEAN and the GCC met formally for the first time.
01:57Of course, when compared to other ASEAN dialogue partners,
01:59like the EU, Japan, China, or even the US,
02:02there is much more going on with those partners
02:05because the history of engaged, structured engagement
02:07has been there for longer.
02:09But both ASEAN and GCC seem to be committed
02:12to growing this engagement.
02:13And I think for ASEAN, it's also a reflection of the desire
02:16to broaden relationships with other intra-regional groupings
02:20beyond existing dialogue partners.
02:22If there is a 때문에 you see that there is also aBooks going on
02:37in the future, in the future.
02:39And I think there are niin on that spirit
02:40of like few people between us,
02:42so anything the Western countries
02:44I think of a sort of a sense of an ourself Быut
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