Chinese Premier Li Qiang praised the potential of a new economic partnership between China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as leaders met at the ASEAN-China-GCC Economic Forum 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, to address global challenges.
Li addressed the opening ceremony of the forum on Tuesday, noting that China seeks deeper cooperation with ASEAN and the GCC to support multilateral trade and regional integration.
"China stands ready to work with ASEAN and GCC countries to strengthen alignment of development strategies, deepen cooperation on regional integration, and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. At the same time, we must firmly uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, and stand for a stable and orderly global market environment," Li said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim lauded the decision to expand the ASEAN-GCC summit to include China and to broaden its scope into the economic sphere.
"There was a tacit agreement that we should expand this sort of geopolitical consideration into more serious considerations affecting investments, trade, including the new technology," he said.
The inaugural ASEAN-China-GCC Summit, held in conjunction with the second ASEAN-GCC Summit and 46th ASEAN Summit, gathered heads of state, ministers, top policy makers, experts, and investors from the world's largest sovereign wealth funds and Fortune 500 companies.
The CEO of a UAE-based artificial intelligence (AI) company G42 Group welcomed the new grouping as a means of expanding access to the latest technologies in the Global South.
"Universal and equitable access to intelligence is imperative. That's why I'm glad, as an industry practitioner, to join hands with leaders of nations, of regions to come together to build an intelligence network, intelligence grid for the world," said Peng Xiao, CEO of G42 Group.
The forum also resulted in agreements to enhance collaboration in areas such as AI, infrastructure, and the halal food industry.
The two-day forum provides a unique opportunity to engage with government and business leaders from three rapidly growing regions, collectively home to over two billion consumers and responsible for more than 20 percent of global GDP.
Chinese premier highlights potential of ASEAN-China-GCC economic partnership
