Foreign Minister attends ASEAN-GCC meeting in Bahrain

(KPL) Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs led a high ranking delegation of Laos to attend the First ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-GCC (the Gulf Cooperation Council) Ministerial Meeting which was opened in Manama, Bahrain from 29-30 June.
This was response to the invitation of Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain.
ASEAN and GCC have had informal periodical consultations since the 1990s on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Impressive growths in their bilateral trade, growing opportunities for investment and urgent issues of mutual interest have led both sides to formalise their cooperation. In July this year, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers resolved at their 41st Meeting to seek their GCC counterparts’ concurrence for a regularised mechanism in the form of an annual Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. The GCC reciprocated the ASEAN Ministers’ initiative when they met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The meeting discussed and reviewed the existing cooperation as well as exchange views on international and regional developments. The meeting also serve as a good opportunity to exchange views on international and regional developments between both regions.
The GCC was established in 1981 in Saudi Arabia and it currently comprises six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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