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Nowadays, economic relations between Asian
countries are witnessing major developments. The
energy industry is one of the main components
of the economic relations between the Asian
countries, which are characterizedby the reciprocal
dependence between net hydrocarbons (crude oil,
LNG) importing countries in the eastern part of
the continent; and major exporting countries in
the western part of the continent. Eastern Asian
countries claim more than two thirds of the
petroleum exports of the western Asian countries.
The last three decades witnessed a noticeable
growth in the size of the commercial exchange
between countries in Asia. In 2015, India has been
classified as the biggest trade partner for the GCC
countries in terms of non-oil exports by 8.5%
of the total non-oil exports to the GCC; and by
12.8% of the GCC’s total non-oil imports.
Willing to develop energy cooperation with the
East Asian countries, West Asian Arab countries,
led by OAPEC members, have moved to boost
their presence in the Asian market, especially
downstream products, in order to secure safe
outlets for their petroleum products, as well as,
invest in the exploration and production sectors.
The last two decades witnessed a strong presence
of the GCC countries in the East Asian energy
market through the establishment of oil projects
like refineries, or investing in the capitals of
Asian petroleum and petrochemical companies.
They have also opened regional offices to seek
petroleum and hydrocarbon opportunities in East
Asia. The outcome was positive and noticeable.
The Second Asia Cooperation Dialogue
Summit (ACD Summit) has been a good
opportunity for discussion and dialogue on
current and future mutual economic challenges
facing the Asian countries. The challenges include
discrepancy in economic, social, human, and
population development rates, energy poverty
in some Asian countries, insufficient capitals,
shortage in technology, as well as, environmental
challenges. In this vein, it is worth mentioning
the various economic challenges facing the Arab
petroleum exporting countries as a result of the
declining oil prices in the world markets, which
caused a big drop in these countries’ revenues in
general. The impact continues. Hopes are high
for a global economic recovery that would reflect
positively on the global oil market recovery.
OAPECSecretariat General has followed up the
progress of the SecondAsia Cooperation Dialogue
Summit (ACD Summit) and highly appreciates the
efforts of the Asian countries’ leaders in boosting
economic cooperation between their countries. In
this regard, the Secretariat General welcomes the
Summit’s resolution on establishing a permanent
secretariat for the Asia Cooperation Dialogue
in the State of Kuwait. Choosing Kuwait as
headquarters is a token of appreciation to Kuwait’s
efforts in boosting Asian cooperation. This choice
reiterates Kuwait’s significant position in the
dialogue with the petroleum importing countries,
since Kuwait is also a founding member of
OAPEC. The Organization hopes that the joint
efforts would result in finding a common platform
for the current challenges and future prospects of
the energy and petroleum industry. The Secretariat
General foresees promising energy cooperation
opportunities between Asian countries. It hopes
that such events would contribute to developing
economic cooperation mechanisms among Asian
countries in order to improve and support the
petroleum trade in the Arab countries, which
would ultimately help boosting the economic
movement and increasing economic and social
development rates in Asia.