On January 22, 2025, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, participated in an important bilateral meeting with Faisal Ali Ibrahim, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning, during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting to explore ways of enhancing cooperation between ASEAN and Saudi Arabia. The two leaders explored ways of strengthening the economic, strategic and trade relations, and both of them agreed that the two parties have a lot to gain by working closely together.
Dr. Kao Kim Hourn stated that ASEAN is determined to deepen its integration with its region and to cooperate with countries like Saudi Arabia for the purpose of promoting sustainable development and economic growth. The focus was on how ASEAN and Saudi Arabia could build on each other’s strengths to create common interest partnerships, especially in the areas of infrastructure, technology, energy and trade.
Minister Faisal Ali Ibrahim stated that Saudi Arabia has a great interest in developing its relations with the member countries of ASEAN, as it seeks to diversify its economic relations and expand cooperation with the region. Both parties found the future of their cooperation to be rather positive and have high hopes for the development of their relationship in the coming years to the benefit of both ASEAN and Saudi Arabia economically and strategically.
