Kuala Lumpur: The opening session of the first-ever trilateral summit of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and China was held Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur. The summit urged the three blocs to deepen partnership through innovation, investment, and closer people-to-people ties. According to Kuwait News Agency, Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, co-chairing the meeting with His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah (current GCC chair) and China's Premier Li Qiang, noted that the three groups together generate USD 24.87 trillion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and represent 2.15 billion people. Ibrahim highlighted that trade between ASEAN and the GCC reached USD 130.7 billion, with bilateral foreign direct investment totaling USD 300.2 billion. He also emphasized China's status as ASEAN's largest trading partner, with roughly USD 700 billion in trade and USD 17.3 billion in direct investment. He commended the GCC's role in global finance a nd energy, China's leadership in advanced technology, and ASEAN's record of peaceful integration, describing the summit as an unprecedented platform for collective growth. The Malaysian Prime Minister also underscored Malaysia's ASEAN chairmanship theme of inclusivity and sustainability, pointing to historic links from the Silk Road to the Strait of Malacca. Meanwhile, China's Premier Li Qiang urged the creation of a unified, integrated market across the three regions, arguing that their combined quarter share of global population and output could unlock new development momentum. Li announced the completion of the upgraded China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and pressed for a swift conclusion of a China-GCC FTA. He advocated for turning different stages of development into strengths through coordinated strategies. Li also backed Malaysia's "Dialogue of Civilizations" initiative and China's Global Civilization Initiative, invoking Chinese President Xi Jinping's idea that collective action can achieve more than the sum of individual contributions with his metaphor, one + one + one is greater than three, symbolizing synergy. The summit forms part of ASEAN's 46th summit and marks the first meeting to gather the three blocs under a joint regional coordination framework.
