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SEAN has moved forward toward enhancing regional economic cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an official says.

Trade Ministry Director General for International Trade Cooperation Gusmardi Bustami said Sunday that both parties conducted the first meeting of ASEAN and GCC senior economic officials in Salalah, Oman, on July 11-12.

“At the meeting, we exchanged views and information about ways to improve economic cooperation, such as mechanisms of decision making in ASEAN, which involves existing councils,” he told The Jakarta Post via telephone.

Gusmardi, who led a meeting with Gasim bin Mohammed Al-Qasmi, the head of economic affairs at the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said both parties also discussed a framework agreement for economic and investment cooperation as well as measures necessary to commence free trade negotiations between two parties in the services and infrastructure sectors.

Gusmardi said the meeting was a follow-up of the ASEAN-GCC two-year action plan (2010-2012) endorsed during the second ASEAN-GCC Ministerial Meeting in Singapore in June last year and agreed at the ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam, in August.

Initiatives to increase regional cooperation were started three years ago by ASEAN and GCC secretariats. Both parties are exploring possibilities to develop a free trade agreement as well as boost trade and investment partnership.

Set up in 1981, the GCC consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Gusmardi said an FTA between ASEAN and the GCC was expected to reduce trade deficits between ASEAN and GCC member states and bolster bilateral trade, which was so far complementary in nature.

“We hope that through an FTA, the GCC can reduce their import duties and remove non-trade barriers, such as trade permits, which currently hamper [ASEAN] exports,” Gusmardi explained.

He added that both parties would further explore trade and investment opportunities in connectivity — including infrastructure, transportation and communication, as well as construction and finance.

The Indonesian Trade Ministry said total trade between Indonesia and GCC countries reached US$10.11 billion last year, up 31.43 percent from $7.69 billion in 2009. Indonesia exported $2.98 billion and imported $7.12 billion, resulting in a deficit of $4.14 billion.

Indonesia mainly exports paperboard, pulp and paper products, vehicles, wood, electrical and electronic equipment, rubber and textiles, and imports oil (representing 77.69 percent of total imports last year), organic chemicals, aluminum, plastics, iron and steel.

The total trade between ASEAN and the GCC was valued at $83.25 billion last year, up 23.64 percent from $67.33 billion in 2009. ASEAN’s exports reached $20.13 billion, while imports reached $63.12 billion, causing $42.99 billion in deficit.