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By Felix Sharief

The story of ASEAN’s remarkable growth has reached the Middle East. During a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Committee in Doha (ACD) with Qatari Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa on July 22, the Qatari Foreign Ministry made a surprise by announcing the plan to establish a dedicated unit to fostering the economic ties with Southeast Asia regional grouping.

To start the realization of Qatar plans, the Filipino Ambassador to Qatar told that they had promised to visit ASEAN countries in the near future. Meanwhile the initial to have a deeper engagement could be tracked to February 2013 where the Qatari Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN, H. E. Muhammad Khater Ibrahim Al-Khater exchanged views on expanding cooperation between ASEAN and Qatar in a meeting with Secretary-General (SG) of ASEAN, H. E. Le Loung Minh in ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta. On that occasion, the ASEAN SG also welcomed Ambassador Khater’s official assumption of his role as the Ambassador of Qatar to ASEAN after his presentation of Letter of Credence.

Qatar is on a right track to have stronger engagement with ASEAN with regards to the bloc is aiming to have an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. With the current 600 million population and expected to become a USD 10 trillion economy by 2030, dwarfing China’s current USD 7.2 billion, ASEAN is like a promising land.

When Doha held The Inside Investor Asia Forum on October last year which was attended by the former ASEAN Secretary Genergal, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Qatar Investment Authority looking at developing joint funds with some of the ASEAN countries to invest in each of them. Thailand recently agreed to import two million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) starting 2015 and will open the door for some broader investment in the Thai economy. Qatar has so far dished out capital to the Malaysian financial services industry, Singapore’s hospitality sector, farming projects in Thailand and Cambodia, tourism complexes in Myanmar and Laos and a planned mining project in the Philippines. Meanwhile with Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia, Qatar has set up a joint investment fund worth USD 1 billion with a focus on mineral resources and infrastructure projects.

Qatar economics strong interest with Southeast Asian countries through its trade and investment should be followed by greater role in political sectors to contribute for regional peace, prosperity and stability. Qatar has undergone a remarkable transformation to emerge on the global scene as a heavyweight power in contemporary peacemaking. As we seen, Qatar has play its role as the mediator in Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan and similar though lower-profile efforts undertaken in Palestine and in the border conflict between Djibouti and Eritrea. Qatar experiences could be brought to Southeast Asia and offer its conflict resolution assistance to ASEAN countries, particularly conflicts involving the Moslem minorities in the region such as Islamic insurgency in Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand and the recent clash between Moslem minorities in Arakhan and Rakhine Provinces in Myanmar with the Buddhist extremists.

Qatar also could contribute to the greater cooperation between two regional grouping, ASEAN and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Qatar distinctive foreign policy could lead the GCC into having a deeper partnership with ASEAN. There are lots fields of cooperation that can be explore by two regional groupings such as exploring the possibility of developing a trade and investment framework agreement and enhancing the prospects of future cooperation in the fields of labor as well as enhanced consular cooperation since there are lots of Indonesian, Filipino and Malaysian migrant workers in GCC countries. Such cooperation between two secretariats also worth to be explores to share best practice, knowledge and exchange information. The realization could be start by the GCC countries to assign their respective ambassadors to ASEAN. As of today, only Saudi Arabia and Qatar have accredited their respective ambassadors to ASEAN.

Salute and kudos should go to ACD which comprise of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It is now being chaired by Vietnamese Ambassador to Qatar, H. E. Le Hong Phan. Their collective effort to enhancing external parties to have a deeper engagement with ASEAN is enviable. Another ASEAN committees in potential Middle-East countries such as United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain should follow the fruitful steps taken by the Doha ACD.


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* Felix Sharief works as ASEAN Research Analyst at the British Embassy Jakarta. Previously he worked at the ASEAN Secretariat and House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia. He received his BA in International Relations from Universitas Nasional, Jakarta in 2011. The views expressed here are his own.

Sharief contributed this article to Ammon News English.