Association of Southeast Asian Nations

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (in English: Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN) is an intergovernmental organization of Southeast Asian states created on August 8, 1967 by five countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. It is currently made up of 10 countries from the Southeast Asia region: Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to the digital newspaper Expansión (Macro Data), it is inhabited by some 646 million people and its annual GDP is 2.45 trillion euros, although other sources point to a GDP of 5.7 trillion dollars.

ASEAN's main goals are to accelerate economic growth and foster regional peace and stability. ASEAN has established a joint forum with Japan, has a cooperation agreement with the European Union (EU), and has entered talks for official trade cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Its headquarters are in Jakarta.

ASEAN also engages regularly with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. As the lead partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ASEAN maintains a global network of alliances and dialogue partners and is considered by many to be a world power, the central union for Asia-Pacific cooperation, and a prominent organization and influential. It is involved in numerous international affairs and hosts diplomatic missions around the world.

History

Foundation

ASEAN was preceded by an organization formed on July 31, 1961 called the East Asian Association (ASA), a group consisting of Thailand, the Philippines, and the Federation of Malaya. ASEAN itself was created on August 8 1967, when the foreign ministers of five countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand have signed the ASEAN Declaration. As stated in the Declaration, ASEAN's goals and purposes are to accelerate economic growth, social progress, and cultural development in the region., promoting regional peace, collaboration and mutual assistance in matters of common interest, providing mutual assistance in the form of training and research services, collaborating for a better use of agriculture and industry in order to raise the standard of living of the population, promote "South East Asian Studies" and maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international organizations with similar aims and purposes.

The creation of ASEAN was motivated by a common fear of communism. The group achieved greater cohesion in the mid-1970s, following a shift in the balance of power after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 The region's dynamic economic growth during the 1970s strengthened the organization, allowing ASEAN to adopt a unified response to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1979. The first ASEAN summit, held in Bali, Indonesia in 1976, resulted in an agreement on several industrial projects and the signing of a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, and a Declaration of Concord. The end of the Cold War allowed ASEAN countries to exercise greater political independence in the region, and in the 1990s, ASEAN emerged as a leading voice on regional trade and security issues.

Expansion

On January 7, 1984, Brunei became the sixth member of ASEAN, and on July 28, 1995, after the end of the Cold War, Vietnam became the seventh member. Laos and Burma joined two years later, on July 23, 1997. Cambodia was to join at the same time as Laos and Myanmar, but a 1997 coup and other internal instability delayed its entry. It subsequently joined on April 30, 1997. 1999 after the stabilization of his government.

In 2006, ASEAN was granted observer status at the United Nations General Assembly. In response, the organization granted the UN "dialogue partner" status.

ASEAN Charter

On December 15, 2008, member states met in Jakarta to launch a charter, signed in November 2007, to move closer to "an EU-style community". The letter made ASEAN a legal entity and sought to create a single free trade area for the region encompassing 500 million people. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stated: This is a momentous event when ASEAN consolidates, integrates and becomes a community. It comes as ASEAN seeks a stronger role in Asian and world affairs at a time when the international system is undergoing seismic shift. Referring to climate change and economic turmoil, he concluded: Southeast Asia is no longer the bitterly divided and war-torn region it was in the 1960s and 1970s.

The 2008 financial crisis was seen as a threat to the Charter's objectives, and also put forward the idea of a proposed human rights body to be discussed at a future summit in February 2009. This proposal caused controversy, since the body would have no power to impose sanctions or punish countries that violated the rights of citizens and, therefore, its effectiveness would be limited. The body was created later, in 2009, as the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights of the ASEAN (AICHR). In November 2012, the commission adopted the ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights.

Vietnam held the ASEAN presidency in 2020.

Achievements

In January 1992, ASEAN members agreed to establish a free trade area and reduce tariffs on non-agricultural products over a 23-year period, beginning in 1993. The ASEAN meeting in July 1994 established recognition of the need for closer internal relations.

. ASEAN full member
. Observer country
. candidate country
.. ASEAN plus three
... East Asia Summit
...... Regional forum

In 2008 it had 10 member states: the five founding countries plus Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and Burma, a candidate country (East Timor) and an observer country (Papua New Guinea). Together with Japan, South Korea and China, they form the forum called 'ASEAN plus Three'.

Recently, ASEAN reported its intention to apply for the election of the host of the 2030 Soccer World Cup, so that its ten members jointly organize the championship and the more than seventy corresponding matches, but the problem would center in the quotas enabled for the Asian football confederation.

In 2015, after five years of negotiations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to create a Free Banking Zone, where member states will be able to sign bilateral treaties that allow their banks to act in the territories of their partner with the same rights and operational flexibilities that national banks have. This occurs within the framework of efforts to create an economic community by the end of that year.

According to IMF and WB sources, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is made up of countries with emerging economies that represent 11% of GDP in Asia Pacific, likewise their exports and imports represent 24% and 23 % respectively of the Gross Domestic Product.

On January 1, 2016, the single market that allows the circulation of goods, capital and labor, made up of more than 600 million inhabitants, came into force.

In addition, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam belong to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.

International relations

ASEAN maintains a global network of alliances and is involved in numerous international affairs.

In 1993 the ASEAN Regional Forum was created, on political and security issues, in which numerous powers such as the People's Republic of China, the United States, Japan, Russia and the European Union participate.

ASEAN participates as an attending guest at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The ASEAN Plus Three (APT), that is, ASEAN plus three (China, South Korea and Japan), is a process of cooperation with East Asia initiated at an informal summit in 1997 (Malaysia), institutionalized in the 1999 APT (Manila) and confirmed at 2007 APT (Singapore) as the main long-term instrument for building an East Asian community, with ASEAN as the driving force.

At the 2004 APT Summit (Vientiane, Laos) it was agreed to host the East Asia Summit (EAS), an annual pan-Asian forum involving the APT plus India, Australia and New Zealand (ASEAN Plus Six, that is, ASEAN plus six). The first EAS was held on December 14, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur. In 2011 it was extended to the United States and Russia (ASEAN Plus Eight, that is, ASEAN plus eight). The EAS are held after the annual ASEAN meetings and play an important role in the regional architecture of Asia-Pacific.

Member States

Band.	Esc.	Name	Capital	Population	Surface (km2)	Currency	Density	UTC	Official languages
		Brunéi	Bandar Seri Begawan	474 800	5.765	Brunéi dollar	65/km2	+8	Malay
		Cambodia	Nom Pen	16 131 000	181.035	Cambodian Riel	78/km2	+7	Cambodian
		Philippines	Manila	110 574 614	300,030	Philippine peso	295/km2	+8	Filipino, English
		Indonesia	Jakarta	275 960 000	1,904,569	Indonesian rupee	113/km2	+7, +8, +9	Indonesian
		Laos	Vientiane	758 000	236,800	Kip	24/km2	+7	Laosiano
		Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	32 671 000	323,847	Ringgit	72/km2	+8	Malay
		Myanmar	Naipyido	55 745 000	676,578	Kyat	81/km2	+6:30	Burmese
		Singapore	Singapore	5 680 600	708	Singapore dollar	6619/km2	+8	Malayo, Chinese Mandarin, English, Tamil
		Thailand	Bangkok	70 470 000	515.115	Thai baht	126/km2	+7	Thai
		Vietnam	Hanoi	100 222 000	331.690	Đideng Vietnamese	248/km2	+7	Vietnam

ASEAN Communication Master Plan

ASEAN foreign ministers launched the ASEAN Communication Master Plan (ACPM) on November 11, 2014.

The ACPM provides a framework for communicating the character, structure, and overall vision of ASEAN and the ASEAN community.

key audiences in the region and around the world. The plan seeks to demonstrate the relevance and benefits of ASEAN through high-quality, fact-based communications, while acknowledging that the ASEAN community is unique and different from other country integration models.

ASEAN Security Plan

The ASEAN Anti-Terrorism Convention (ACCT) serves as a regional framework for cooperation aimed at confronting, preventing and suppressing terrorism and deepening anti-terrorism cooperation.

The ACCT was signed by ASEAN leaders in 2007. ASEAN's sixth member country, Brunei, ratified it on April 28, 2011, and on May 27, 2011, the convention entered into force. Malaysia became the tenth member country to ratify the ACCT on January 11, 2013.

ASEAN Summit 2020

The summit was held by videoconference to adapt to the protocol of the COVID-19 pandemic, chaired by the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc. At the end of the summit, a trade agreement was signed, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Association (RCEP, for the initials in English), which will be the largest trade association in the world by the countries that have signed it, representing 30% of world GDP and 2.1 billion consumers.