HRH the Prime Minister, in his speech in the Thai Capital Bangkok to the World Economic Forum on East Asia, said that there is increasingly growing need for constant cooperation and coordination between countries and opening of further horizons for trade exchanging and removal of restrictive barriers before investments in order to alleviate the negative repercussions of the global economic crunch in addition to protecting financial stability in the region.
HRH the Prime Minister pointed out that there are huge potentials and opportunities to achieve the common views mutually concluded during the first GCC ministerial meeting held together with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Kingdom of Bahrain in 2009 and to develop bilateral relations in order to reap benefits and to serve the common interest of both regions in terms of boosting trade exchanging in view of the significant position of both blocs in the international arena thanks to the accomplishments made in terms of development and available economic potentials and the distinctive relations between the two blocs. HRH the Prime Minister, in this regard, also pointed out that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) statistics indicate a continuous growth rate between 5% and 4% in the GCC countries in 2012.
The GCC countries enjoy rich energy resources as they produce together an equivalent of 20% of the total world production and also 9.5% natural gas, 50% of the total value of the entire world’s sovereign funds in addition to the GCC countries close proximity to the ASEAN countries in terms of foodstuffs imports and mercantile exchanging.
HRH the Prime Minister also emphasized the great significance of the main theme for the sake of which the World Economic Forum on East Asia has been convened which is to “formulate the region’s future through communication.” HRH the Prime Minister said that we have closely followed up your valuable speeches regarding future visions for ASEAN countries particularly under successively fast global transformations on various spheres which make an imperative to consolidate cooperation between countries of the region and to positively merge into the global (village) economy in order to yield benefits in favor of ASEAN countries.
HRH the Prime Minister pointed out that the ASEAN bloc has become an important source for developing countries in terms of being an influential and will definitely boost its role when the structure of ASEAN completes by 2015.
HRH the Prime Minister also pointed out that all countries and economic blocks are not free from the adverse effects of the international economic and financial crisis which usually began in industrial nations whence its impact spread to developing nations which suffered the most on their social and economic development growth rates. HRH the Prime Minister explained that the world economy are likely to frequently suffer from various sorts of crises from time to time and this makes it necessary to cope with crises both seriously and subjectively in order to alleviate any negative impact in our countries and to ensure that its impact does not hinder economic growth rates nor the being efforts exerted in order to achieve development goals and to increase job opportunities and develop social welfare and healthcare.
HRH the Prime Minister revealed that the GCC countries are keen on developing their economic and political cooperation in order to attain the phase of Gulf Unity.