Jakarta. Indonesia on Friday tried to get ASEAN and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to pursue a trade framework amidst Jakarta’s deficit with the individual members of the Riyadh-based grouping.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo --along with the other Southeast Asian leaders-- are currently in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh for the ASEAN-GCC maiden summit. Speaking before the attending leaders, Jokowi said that ASEAN should establish stronger trade ties with the GCC, a political and economic alliance of six Middle Eastern nations.

“We need to maximize our economic potential through a balanced, open, and fair investment and trade, among others, by establishing an ASEAN-GCC trade framework,” Jokowi said at the summit.

“As well as industrial development, [mutual] halal certification recognition, and halal tourism development,” Jokowi added.

Jakarta sees ASEAN and GCC as major forces that are set to continue to grow. Jokowi claimed that the alliances’ combined gross domestic product (GDP) has topped $5 trillion. Both blocs host a combined population of over 700 million people.

The Indonesian leader also brought the forum’s attention to the need to partner on food and energy security.

“We need to protect food security by pursuing cooperation on food and agricultural technologies, as well as the harmonization of agricultural commodity standards. We should also bolster the energy sector with mutually beneficial and sustainable cooperation to fast-track energy transition,” Jokowi said.

According to the ASEAN Secretariat, the Southeast Asian bloc and the GCC have established a cooperation framework for 2024-2028. 

As the name suggests, the document sets out the areas of cooperation that ASEAN and the GCC should explore over the next few years. The document touched on the framework that Jokowi spoke of, saying that the two regional groupings should explore the possibility of developing a framework arrangement on trade and investment cooperation.

The GCC members are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. Government data shows that Indonesia is importing more than it exports to the individual GCC member states -- with the exception of Kuwait. 

For instance, Indonesia held a $3.5 billion deficit with Saudi Arabia in 2022 -- the largest compared to the other GCC members. 

Indonesia’s trade deficit with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last year stood at $463.4 million and $677.3 million, respectively. Indonesia’s trade with Oman left a $965.8 million deficit in 2022. The Southeast Asian country also spent more money than it made when trading with Bahrain over the same period, booking a $136.4 million deficit, the Trade Ministry reported.

Indonesia finally posted a surplus --although only $27.1 million-- with Kuwait last year after facing deficits of over $100 million throughout 2018-2021.

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