Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. It was established on 8 August1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Brunei Darussalam then joined on 8 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.

ASEAN spans over an area of 4.46 million km2 with a population of approximately 580 million people, 8.7% of the world population.

In 2009, its combined nominal GDP had grown to more than USD $1.5 trillion.

Seat of Secretariat -Jakarta (Indonesia).

AIMS AND PURPOSES

As set out in the ASEAN Declaration, the aims and purposes of ASEAN are:

* To accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations;
* To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries of the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter;
* To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields;
* To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in the educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres;
* To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilisation of their agriculture and industries, the expansion of their trade, including the study of the problems of international commodity trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities and the raising of the living standards of their peoples;
* To promote Southeast Asian studies; and
* To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes, and explore all avenues for even closer cooperation among themselves.

East Asia Summit (EAS)

The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest and concern with the aim of promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia. It is an open, inclusive, transparent and outward-looking forum, which strives to strengthen global norms and universally recognised values with ASEAN as the driving force working in partnership with the other participants of the East Asia Summit.

The First East Asia Summit was held on 14 December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was attended by the Heads of State/Government of the Member Countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, People’s Republic of China, Republic of India, Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand.

The Second East Asia Summit was held on 15 January 2007 in Cebu City, the Republic of the Philippines.

The Third East Asia Summit (EAS) was held on 21 November 2007 in Singapore.

The Fourth East Asia Summit was rescheduled several times, had its venue changed and one attempt to hold it was cancelled due to the 2008–2009 Thai political crisis. It was ultimately held on 25 October 2009 in Cha-am and Hua Hin, Thailand.

The Fifth East Asia Summit will be chaired by Vietnam on 30 October 2010.