KUWAIT CITY ― Some 300 policymakers from Asian countries and major oil producers assembled in Kuwait on Tuesday to boost cooperation in tackling the prolonged economic crisis and other regional and global issues.

The two-day Asia Cooperation Dialogue provides the stage for networking between officials from member countries and discussions on economy, culture, environment, food security, disaster response and other issues, organizers said.

The annual forum invited its 32 member countries including South Korea, China, Japan, India and Russia, as well as major crude producers in the Gulf like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Afghanistan became the newest participant this year.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun is leading the Korean delegation and scheduled to deliver a speech during the summit. Seoul is participating as a “prime mover” in the area of information and technology, one of 20 key collaboration areas.

The pan-Asia initiative was launched in 2002 as a meeting of foreign ministers by Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s former premier and the older brother of the current premier, Yingluck.

Kuwait, which is seeking to host an ACD secretariat, for the first time upgraded the event to summit, with assistance from the Southeast Asian country acting as the meeting’s general coordinator.

“This summit is being held under changing political circumstances and suffocating economic crises at the global level. Their consequences are still being felt, causing serious challenges to our continued efforts and attempts at upgrading the levels of development of our continent,” said Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti emir, said in his opening remarks.

“Asia needs to quickly act together in order to maintain growth in times of economic difficulty,” Yingluck Shinawatra said in her speech during an opening session.

“In times of economic downturn, it’s important to enhance cooperation in trade and investment within Asia and with the rest of world. The ACD helps achieve these important goals.”

Later in the day, Kim plans to hold talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart to discuss ways to firm up bilateral ties, diplomats here said.

Kuwait has the world’s fifth-largest oil reserve and is Korea’s No. 2 crude provider after Saudi Arabia, with more than 117 million barrels last year, according to the state-run Korea National Oil Corp.

In the first eight months of the year, Seoul’s oil imports from the Gulf state spiked 33 percent on-year to nearly 90 million barrels. The upsurge is largely attributed to the European Union’s ban on insuring Iranian crude shipments that took effect on July 1.

By Shin Hyon-hee, Korea Herald correspondent
(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)