Foreign Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) met in Singapore on Tuesday and adopted a two-year action plan to increase partnerships in economy, education and culture.

This is the second ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Meeting and their retreat in Singapore was described as "fruitful and productive," local TV broadcaster Channel NewsAsia reported.

The agreement comes at the end of a ministerial meeting in Singapore.

There was also a sense of urgency in getting things moving. Relations between Southeast Asia and the Middle East are still in a nascent stage, with potential still largely untapped.

The two-year Plan Of Action outlines measures to be undertaken to unlock this potential by 2012.

Both sides will also look into discussing a possible ASEAN-GCC Free Trade Agreement (FTA). A roundtable involving officials from both sides will be formed to look into what this entails.

Trade between both regions has gone up considerably over the past six to seven years - from just 20 billion U.S. dollars to about 100 billion U.S dollars.

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