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About the project

About ASEAN

Formation of ASEAN

ASEAN was established in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to promote economic and political co-operation and regional stability. It was later joined by Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Objectives

The primary aims and objectives of ASEAN, as outlined in the original 1967 ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration), are:

• to accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region;
• to promote regional peace and stability;
• to promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest;
• to provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in professional educational and technical spheres;
• to collaborate more effectively for the greater utilisation of their agriculture and industries and expansion of trade;
• to promote South East Asian Studies;
• to maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organisations and to explore more avenues for closer cooperation amongst themselves.

Organizational Structure

ASEAN Secretariat: The Secretary-General of ASEAN is appointed "on merit" for a term of five years, and whose role is to "initiate, advise, coordinate and implement ASEAN activities." In addition, there are currently two deputy Secretaries-General.

The Secretariat has four Bureaus:

• the ASEAN Free Trade Bureau (AFTA)
• the Bureau of Economic Co-operation
• the Bureau of Functional Co-operation
• the Bureau for ASEAN Co-operation and Dialogue Relations.

ASEAN National Secretariats: Each ASEAN country has a National Secretariat in the Foreign Ministry which organises and implements ASEAN-related activities at the domestic level. At the head of each National Secretariat is a Director-General.

Heads of Government: The Heads of State and Government who, since 1995 convene annually at the ASEAN Summit, comprise the "highest decision-making organ of ASEAN." The Summits rotate between a "formal summit" every three years and "informal summits" in the two interim years.

Foreign Ministers: An annual meeting is held by the foreign ministers from each member state, known as the "ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (Foreign Ministers)" (AMM). The AMM is responsible for the formulation of policy guidelines and co-ordination of ASEAN activities.

The ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) is the policy-making arm and co-ordinator of the AMM, and reports directly to the AMM. The ASC comprises the Chairman, who is the foreign minister of the country hosting the AMM; the Secretary-General of ASEAN and the Director-General of the ASEAN National Secretariats.

Economic Ministers: The ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM), who were institutionalised in 1977, also meet annually.

Sectoral Ministers Meetings: Meetings may be held by ministers from various other governmental sectors, both economic or otherwise, such as 'finance' or the 'environment'.

Senior Officials Meeting (SOM): The SOM was created in 1987, and constitutes heads of the Foreign Ministries of the member states of ASEAN. They are responsible for ASEAN political co-operation and they report to the AMM.

Committees in Third Countries: These committees are comprised of heads of diplomatic missions and currently exist in Bonn, Brussels, London, Paris, Washington D.C., Tokyo, Canberra, Ottawa, Wellington, Geneva, Seoul, New Delhi, New York, Beijing, Moscow and Islamabad. They conduct consultative meetings with their host governments. The Chairmen of the ASEAN Committees in Third Countries submit progress reports to the ASC on the activities of the Committees and seek guidance when needed from the ASC.

Specialist Bodies and Organisations: To encourage inter-governmental cooperation in various (government-run) industries such as tourism and biodiversity, several specialist bodies have been set up. And several umbrella organizations, such as the ASEAN Business Forum, have been developed to promote cooperation between domestic organisations.

Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II): This October 2003 document envisages the establishment of a"'new" ASEAN Community "comprising three pillars, namely political and security co-operation, economic co-operation and socio-cultural co-operation" and expands on the role of each of these sectors.

External Relations

ASEAN has developed an abundance of external relations notably with:

East Asian Countries: in November 1999, ASEAN issued a Joint Statement with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea on East Asia Cooperation outlining the areas of co-operation between them.

Dialogue Partners: the ASEAN summit of 1992 mandated "intensifying cooperative relationships with its Dialogue Partners" -- Australia, Canada the EC, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and the U.S.A. -- such relationships being maintained at the ministerial level by foreign ministers. The same document (Singapore Declaration of 1992) also encourages engaging in 'consultative relationships with interested non-Dialogue countries and International Organisations.

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