Middle Eastern states have lessons to learn from Asean in building friendship with China, say experts at Singapore conference
- Better collaboration among countries in the Middle East could pave way for a regional trade agreement with China, a two-day conference in Singapore heard
Nasser Saidi, who heads consultancy firm Nasser Saidi & Associates, said if Middle Eastern states could behave like the 10-member regional trading bloc, it could pave the way for a regional free-trade agreement with China to further improve trading volumes and future infrastructure investments from the Chinese.
Working together would also help the region battle the ongoing threat of terrorism, said Saidi, who is based in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.
Middle Eastern governments always think about their own interests in geopolitical terms and try to boost their individual status in the region, Duke University professor Bai Gao said.
But among Asean nations, said Gao, “there is a stronger self regional identity that often unites these countries together to pursue their common interests when they deal with external great powers.”