Partnership: An option and necessity

The world has changed. Old certainties are giving way to new realities and partnerships between regional blocs to play more active roles in tackling the challenges before us are today of the essence.

The global financial crisis underlines the need to review our priorities and our policies to take account of the shifting economic structures in light of this crisis, such as the emergence of the G20, for example, as a global player of real weight.

For the 10 members of ASEAN a political, trade investment, and cultural partnership with the GCC - the six nations of the Arabian Gulf - offers strong opportunities. This is the thinking behind the history-making Ministerial meeting in Manama between our two regional blocs.

GCC-ASEAN cooperation needs to be focused and nuanced, prioritizing the promotion of international peace and security, poverty alleviation, human resource development, enhancement of trade and investment, environment protection and sustainable development, fighting terrorism and extremism, and the encouragement of cultural and media exchange and cooperation.

We have a packed agenda to explore. But important issues include energy and food security and sustainable development, not to mention coordinating positions in international forums. In a world that too often succumbs to short term fads and fancies, we are determined to build solidly for the long term.

Furthermore, our two economic blocs are growth centers for the new global economy. Together we have the potential to be among the leaders of renewed international economic growth, for the benefit of all countries, in our regions and beyond. Already we in the GCC add up collectively to a single market worth around US$1 trillion. And that is just a beginning.

By 2020, according to the calculations of the Economist Intelligence Unit, our common Gulf market will have doubled again in size to $2 trillion. That is two trillion reasons for ASEAN to form a future partnership with us.

We are committed to open markets, and trading and investing across frontiers. We are not protectionist by temperament. We are careful not to over borrow, and to treat complex financial instruments with the caution that they have been shown to deserve.

We are just as committed as ASEAN to make sure that the GCC succeeds. Our aims are ambitious but they are attainable, in a very short space of time.

This is the encouraging background to our joint Ministerial Retreat - this informal yet, I am sure, effective dialogue of ASEAN and the GCC to draw up a realistic roadmap towards a practical working relationship between our countries and peoples. A partnership between the GCC and ASEAN will be no surprise to anyone who knows our mutual history. We in the GCC are Asian and proud of it.

For thousands of years our two regions have traded with each other and embraced our respective cultures. Then, as now, our relations were not just between Governments. Enterprising entrepreneurs developed profitable ties with each other and long-lasting personal friendships between our two peoples were forged.

As we move towards stronger political, cultural and economic cooperation, we will be encouraging our peoples to find new ways to work together for the benefit of both regions. At both public and private level, we hope to see joint ventures spring up in banking and finance, trade and technology, and education and culture.

Each GCC country already has its own links with ASEAN. Speaking for Bahrain, I pay tribute from direct experience to the drive and enterprise of our ASEAN trade partners.

As the main banking center in the MENA region much of our co-operation has focused on banking and financial services. For example, we in Bahrain have exchanged ideas very profitably with ASEAN financial institutions on Islamic finance.This is a classic illustration of how working together enables both sides to obtain greater benefits than if we acted alone.

That is why I feel privileged to have initiated the Ministerial Meeting so that we can tap into the political, economic and cultural potential before us.

A partnership between ASEAN and the GCC is an idea whose time has come.

The writer is Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain.