Asia Cooperation Dialogue

Asia Cooperation Dialogue

Member states in yellow
Type Regional cooperation organizations
Members
Leaders
• Secretary-General
 Thailand Bundit Limschoon[1]
Establishment 2002

The Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) is an inter-governmental organization created on 18 June 2002 to promote Asian cooperation at a continental level and to help integrate separate regional organizations such as ASEAN, SAARC, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Eurasian Economic Union.

History

It is the main objective of the former Thai Prime Minister to form the Asia Co-operation Dialogue or the forerunner to the Asian Union. The ACD's main members states are Pakistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, Uzbekistan, China and Japan, the so-called Major Ten ACD Nations.[2]

The idea of an Asia Cooperation Dialogue was raised at the First International Conference of Asian Political Parties (held in Manila between 17–20 September 2000) by Surakiart Sathirathai, then deputy leader of the now defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, on behalf of his party leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, then Prime Minister of Thailand. It was suggested that Asia as a continent should have its own forum to discuss Asia-wide cooperation. Afterwards, the idea of the ACD was formally put forward during the 34th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Hanoi, 23–24 July 2001 and at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Retreat in Phuket, 20–21 February 2002.

Ministerial Meetings

Meeting Country Year
1st  Thailand, Cha Am 18–19 June 2002
2nd  Thailand, Chiang Mai 21–22 June 2003
3rd  China, Qingdao 21–22 June 2004
4th  Pakistan, Islamabad 4–6 April 2005
5th  Qatar, Doha 23–24 May 2006
6th  South Korea, Seoul 5–6 June 2007
7th  Kazakhstan, Astana 16–17 October 2008
8th[3]  Sri Lanka, Colombo 15–16 October 2009
9th  Iran, Tehran 8–9 November 2010
10th  Kuwait, Kuwait City 10–11 October 2012
11th[4]  Tajikistan, Dushanbe 29 March 2013
12th[5]  Bahrain, Manama 26 November 2013
13th[6]  Saudi Arabia, Riyadh 25 November 2014
14th[7]  Thailand, Bangkok 9-10 March 2016

Summits

Meeting Country Year
I  Kuwait, Kuwait City 15 - 17 October 2012
II  Thailand, Bangkok 8-10 October 2016
III  Iran, Tehran 2018[8]

Objectives

The main objectives of the ACD are to:

  1. Promote interdependence among Asian countries in all areas of cooperation by identifying Asia's common strengths and opportunities which will help reduce poverty and improve the quality of life for Asian people whilst developing a knowledge-based society within Asia and enhancing community and people empowerment;
  2. Expand the trade and financial market within Asia and increase the bargaining power of Asian countries in lieu of competition and, in turn, enhance Asia's economic competitiveness in the global market;
  3. Serve as the missing link in Asian cooperation by building upon Asia's potentials and strengths through supplementing and complementing existing cooperative frameworks so as to become a viable partner for other regions;
  4. Ultimately transform the Asian continent into an Asian Community, capable of interacting with the rest of the world on a more equal footing and contributing more positively towards mutual peace and prosperity.

Member States

Membership and expansion of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue
Maldives Bangladesh Bhutan Nepal Sri Lanka India Myanmar Thailand Cambodia Laos Vietnam Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Afghanistan Pakistan Turkmenistan Iran Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Uzbekistan China Russia Turkey Japan Mongolia South Korea Bahrain Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation Mekong–Ganga Cooperation Association of Southeast Asian Nations Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Turkic Council Economic Cooperation Organization Gulf Cooperation Council Asia Cooperation Dialogue
A clickable Euler diagram showing the relationships between various Asian regional organisations v • d • e

The ACD was founded by 18 members. Since March 2016, the organization consists of 34 states[9] as listed below (including all current members of ASEAN and the GCC). Overlapping regional organization membership in italics.

Name Accession date Regional organization
 Afghanistan 17 October 2012 SAARC, ECO
 Bahrain 18 June 2002 GCC, AL
 Bangladesh 18 June 2002 SAARC, BIMSTEC
 Bhutan [t 1] 27 September 2004 SAARC, BIMSTEC
 Brunei 18 June 2002 ASEAN
 Cambodia 18 June 2002 ASEAN, MCG
 China 18 June 2002 SCO
 India 18 June 2002 SAARC, BIMSTEC, MGC
 Indonesia 18 June 2002 ASEAN
 Iran 21 June 2004 ECO
 Japan 18 June 2002 —
 Kazakhstan [t 2] 21 June 2003 CIS, ECO, SCO
 South Korea 18 June 2002 —
 Kuwait 21 June 2003 GCC, AL
 Kyrgyzstan[10] 16 October 2008 CIS, ECO, SCO
 Laos 18 June 2002 ASEAN, MCG
 Malaysia 18 June 2002 ASEAN
 Mongolia 21 June 2004 —
 Myanmar 18 June 2002 ASEAN, BIMSTEC, MCG
   Nepal 10 March 2016 SAARC, BIMSTEC
 Oman 21 June 2003 GCC, AL
 Pakistan 18 June 2002 SAARC, ECO
 Philippines 18 June 2002 ASEAN,
 Qatar 18 June 2002 GCC, AL
 Russia [t 2] 4 April 2005 CIS, CoE, SCO
 Saudi Arabia 4 April 2005 GCC, AL
 Singapore 18 June 2002 ASEAN
 Sri Lanka 21 June 2003 SAARC, BIMSTEC
 Tajikistan 5 June 2006 CIS, ECO, SCO
 Thailand 18 June 2002 ASEAN, BIMSTEC, MCG
 Turkey[9][t 2] 26 September 2013 CoE,[t 3] ECO
 United Arab Emirates 21 June 2004 GCC, AL
 Uzbekistan 5 June 2006 CIS, ECO, SCO
 Vietnam 18 June 2002 ASEAN, MCG
  1. ↑ One more membership request was finally confirmed at the ACD Breakfast Meeting of 27 September 2004
  2. 1 2 3 Located partially in Europe.
  3. ↑ Turkey is a European Union candidate since 1999.

See also

References

Further reading

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