Jakarta, April 29 -- Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto and Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) Anwar Ibrahim agreed to propose collaboration between ASEAN and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as a new economic power.

The agreement was one of the topics discussed at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on April 28-29, 2024.

In a statement from his office on Monday, Hartarto spoke of having proposed to expand Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) cooperation partners with GCC member countries.

"ASEAN has a large trade bloc, namely RCEP, or ASEAN+6 countries. If we invite GCC countries to the trade...