A forum called the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), which is just 10 years old, may become like an AU or EU for Asia in the future, though many doubt it.

Leaders of 32 Asian countries, including new member Afghanistan, will gather in Kuwait City next week to begin a new era of cooperation among Asian countries, especially in the areas of agriculture, natural resources, industrialization, health, education, food security, energy, natural disasters and poverty eradication.

Kuwait will host the First Asian Cooperation Dialogue Summit from Oct. 15 to 17 and a foreign ministers’ meeting will be held prior to the summit on Saturday and Sunday.

“The upcoming summit in Kuwait will mark the beginning of a new era in cooperation among the ACD countries. It will contribute in enhancing the aspirations of our nations,” Kuwait Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said while co-chairing the ACD meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Kuwait News Agency recently reported.

The ACD, an informal forum of foreign ministers from Asian countries, was established in 2002 in Thailand to enhance mutual cooperation in various sectors.

This year the ACD will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. Indonesia, which joined the organization at its inception, is a leading member of the group. All 10 member nations of ASEAN are members of the ACD.

Kuwait, which has cordial relations with Indonesia, invited President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to attend the first ACD Summit, which the President declined, citing prior engagements. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman and several leaders of Gulf countries will attend the Summit.

Most probably, the Indonesian delegation will be headed by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, although the Foreign Ministry has yet to confirm Marty’s participation.

“The foreign minister and his staff have been making plans to visit Kuwait,” a source who declined to be named told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Jakarta has considered the ACD an important forum in Asia since its inception.

“The ACD serves as a forum for dialogue and exchanging views on international issues. It is also expected to bridge the things that have not been included in formal cooperation that has existed in Asia so far,” the Foreign Ministry said on its website.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy has become one of the co-prime movers in the field of energy along with Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Qatar, China and the Philippines.

Indonesia hosted the ACD Energy Forum in Bali in 2005 and the meeting of the ACD Co-Prime Movers on Energy Action plan in Bali in 2007. Jakarta also played a key role in drafting the ACD’s concept paper on energy security in 2003.

Many people doubt whether ACD will transform itself from an informal forum into a powerful regional organization such as the EU, given the diverse cultures, civilizations, inequalities, beliefs and political systems in Asia.

Though it will be a Herculean task, some are modestly optimistic.

“The ACD summit will lay the basis for an Asian-Arab partnership, or at least Asian-Gulf partnership,” Kuwait’s noted researcher in international relations, Abdullah Al-Madani, told the KUNA news agency on Wednesday in Kuwait City.

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