Association of Southeast Asian Nations
The
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (
ASEAN) is a political, economic, and cultural organization of countries located in
Southeast Asia. \nFounded in
1967, its aim is to foster cooperation and mutual assistance among members. The countries meet annually every November in summits.
Members
\nThe current member countries of ASEAN are:
Papua New Guinea has observer status in the ASEAN.
The ASEAN also conducts dialogue meetings with other countries and an organization, collectively known as the ASEAN dialogue partners. They are\nAustralia, Canada, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea, the United States, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Russia, and the European Union.
ASEAN includes about 8% of the world's population and in 2003 it had a combined GDP of about US$700 billion (roughly equivalent to South Korea) and this GDP was growing at an average rate of around 4% p.a. The economies of member countries of ASEAN are diverse, although its major products include electronic goods, oil and wood.
The ASEAN countries are culturally diverse and they include the third largest number of English speakers in any other geo-political entity (after the US and UK), around 50 million, mostly in the Philippines. ASEAN includes more Muslims than any other geo-political entity -- about a quarter of a billion, mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia. Other main religions of the various peoples in the region include large numbers of Buddhists and the predominantly Catholic Philippines.
They include some of the most repressive and some of the most democratic governments in the world, with economic policies ranging from liberal and democratic to communist and socialist. ASEAN includes governments considered corrupt and governments considered transparent.
The ASEAN Regional Forum
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is an informal multilateral dialogue of 23 members that seeks to address security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.\nThe ARF met for the first time in 1994.\nThe members include the 10 member states of the ASEAN, the observer Papua New Guinea, and the 12 ASEAN dialogue partners.
History
The ASEAN was established on August 8, 1967, when foreign ministers of five countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand met at the Thai Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok and signed the ASEAN Declaration (also known as the Bangkok Declaration). \nThe five foreign ministers, considered the organization's Founding Fathers, were Adam Malik of Indonesia, Narciso R. Ramos of the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam of Singapore, and Thanat Khoman of Thailand.\nThe founding fathers envisaged that the organization will eventually encompass all countries in Southeast Asia.
Brunei Darussalam became the sixth member of the ASEAN when it joined on January 7, 1984, barely a week after the country became independent on January 1.\nIt would be a further 11 years before ASEAN expanded from its core six members.\nVietnam became the seventh member in 1995, and Laos and Myanmar joined two years later in July 1997.\nCambodia was to have joined the ASEAN together with Laos and Myanmar, but was deferred due to the country's internal political struggle.\nCambodia later joined on April 30, 1999, following the stabilization of its government.\nThus was completed the ASEAN-10—the organization of all countries in Southeast Asia.
East Timor
The new nation of East Timor, previously part of Indonesia, has had a long struggle with ASEAN.\nEast Timor, during its long process towards independence, has sought to have observer status in the ASEAN, much like Papua New Guinea, and eventually official member status.\nHowever, many countries in the ASEAN have barred support for East Timor in the late 1990s in the name of solidarity with Indonesia.\nMyanmar, in particular, opposed granting observer status to East Timor because of the latter's support for Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Since East Timor's independence in May 2002, the ASEAN has been more accommodating of the new nation.\nEast Timor has already been invited to several ASEAN meetings.\nHowever, East Timor is still not an observer nation in the ASEAN.
October 2003 Summit
At a meeting on October 7, 2003 on Bali, leaders of the members nations signed a declaration known as the Bali Concord II in which they agreed to pursue closer economic integration by 2020.
According to the declaration, "an ASEAN Community" would be set upon three pillars, "namely political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, and socio-cultural cooperation... for the purpose of ensuring durable peace, stability and shared prosperity in the region."\nThe plan envisaged a region with a population of 500 million and annual trade of US$720 billion.\nAlso, a free trade area would be established in the region by 2020.\nAsean's leaders also discussed setting up a security community alongside the economic one, though without any formal military alliance.
During the same meeting, the People's Republic of China and ASEAN have also agreed to work faster toward a mutual trade agreement, which will create the world's most populous market, with 1.7 billion consumers.\nJapan also signed an agreement pledging to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers with ASEAN members.
External link
\n*ASEAN Secretariat - Official website
\n\n\n\n\n\n\nzh-cn:东南亚国家联盟\nzh-tw:東南亞國家聯盟
