China-ASEAN Joint Investment Council Launched, Thailand Government Pension Fund Among Founders

Six leading sovereign wealth funds, including the Azerbaijan Investment Fund (SOFAZ), have established the China-ASEAN Joint Investment Council (CAJIC) to strengthen investment cooperation and explore opportunities across China and Southeast Asia. This council aims to foster relationship-building, knowledge-sharing, and capital deployment through joint initiatives among participating funds. The CAJIC complements the Galaxy Orientis China-ASEAN Investment Program (CAIP), a private equity platform with approximately US$520 million in first close (targeting US$1 billion). CAIP focuses on long-term investment opportunities in sectors such as industrials, healthcare, consumer goods, business services, and technology. Founding members of the council include SOFAZ, China Investment Corporation (CIC), the Thailand Government Pension Fund, Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia's Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), and Indonesia Investment Authority (INA). Convened by CIC and with CGS International Securities serving as the secretariat, this platform seeks to strengthen long-term relationships and explore bilateral and multilateral cooperation opportunities across China and Southeast Asia. For SOFAZ, participation in CAJIC represents an evolution of its decade-long investment engagement in China. The fund has a Memorandum of Understanding with CIC to establish a strategic framework for deeper cooperation, aiming to enhance financial and institutional ties with Asian investors, leveraging Azerbaijan's geographical advantage as a bridge between Asia and Europe via the 'Middle Corridor'. CAJIC operates across three strategic dimensions: People, Insights, and Capital. Through people-to-people exchanges via investment forums and executive programs, research and knowledge-sharing initiatives, and capital deployment through separately managed investment programs, it enables participating institutions to identify mutually beneficial opportunities and develop deeper connections within the region's growing economic landscape. Source: SOFAZ, Leading Sovereign Investors Establish China-ASEAN Joint Investment Council