Asia, Middle East confer at ACD summit

Leaders of Asian and Middle Eastern nations say they will seek closer economic cooperation at the Asia Cooperation Dialogue Conference in Kuwait. The first summit meeting of the ACD is scheduled to open Tuesday and is set to include senior delegations from 32 nations and will focus on strategy for navigating the still-choppy global economic seas. "Since the 2008 global crisis, economic growth around the globe has been fragile amid the deepening debt crisis in Europe, a weakening growth in the U.S. and a cooling Chinese economy," South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun said in a written statement Sunday. "Such uncertainties have forced Asian countries to join hands in fighting against the impacts of the global economic malaise." Kim will lead the South Korean delegation in Kuwait City, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said. Other senior officials attending were Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Yonhap said the meeting agenda will aim to strengthen regional cooperation and dialogue among the ACD members, which include major oil exporters and importers.