PRESENTATION

ON
ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH-EAST ASIAN
NATIONS (ASEAN)
 ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH – EAST
ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN)

HISTORY
The Association of South-east Asian Nations or ASEAN
was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by five
original member countries namely:
INDONESIA
MALAYSIA
PHILIPPINES
SINGAPORE
THAILAND
 OTHER MEMBERS OF ASEAN
Brunei joined in 1984, shortly after its
independence from the United Kingdom, and
Vietnam joined ASEAN as its seventh member
in 1995. Laos and Burma were admitted into
full membership in July 1997 as ASEAN
celebrated its 30th anniversary. Cambodia
became ASEAN’s tenth member in 1999.
The Secretariat of ASEAN at Jalan
Sisingamangaraja No.70A, South 
Jakarta, Indonesia.
 WHY WAS ASEAN FORMED?
ASEAN was formed with the intention of
counterbalancing the growing influence of the
United States in the 
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) as
well as in the Asian region as a whole. This
proposal failed, however, because of heavy
opposition from the United States and
Japan. Despite this failure, member states
continued to work for further integration and
ASEAN Plus Three was created in 1997(China, 
Japan, and South Korea).
 AIM OF ASEAN

ASEAN has emphasised regional cooperation

in the “three pillars” of security, sociocultural
and economic integration. The regional
grouping has made the most progress in
economic integration, aiming to create an
ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015.
ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY(AEC)
PRINCIPLES
Free Trade Area

The foundation of the AEC is the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA),

a common external preferential tariff scheme to promote the
free flow of goods within ASEAN. The ASEAN Free Trade Area
(AFTA) is an agreement by the member nations of ASEAN
concerning local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries. The
AFTA agreement was signed on 28 January 1992 in
Singapore.When the AFTA agreement was originally signed,
ASEAN had six members, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam joined in
1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997, and Cambodia in 1999. The
latecomers have not fully met the AFTA's obligations, but they
are officially considered part of the AFTA as they were required
to sign the agreement upon entry into ASEAN, and were given
longer time frames in which to meet AFTA's tariff reduction
obligations.
Comprehensive Investment Area

The ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Area (ACIA) will encourage

the free flow of investment within ASEAN. The main principles of the
ACIA are as follows_
• All industries are to be opened up for investment, with exclusions to
be phased out according to schedules
• National treatment is granted immediately to ASEAN investors with
few exclusions
• Elimination of investment impediments
• Streamlining of investment process and procedures
• Enhancing transparency
• Undertaking investment facilitation measures
• Full realisation of the ACIA with the removal of temporary exclusion
lists in manufacturing agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mining is
scheduled by 2010 for most ASEAN members and by 2015 for the
CLMV (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam) countries.
TRADE IN SERVICES

An ASEAN Framework Agreement on Trade in

Services was adopted at the ASEAN Summit in
Bangkok in December 1995.Under AFAS, ASEAN
Member States enter into successive rounds of
negotiations to liberalise trade in services with the
aim of submitting increasingly higher levels of
commitments. The negotiations result in
commitments that are set forth in schedules of
specific commitments annexed to the Framework
Agreement. These schedules are often referred to
as packages of services commitments. At present,
ASEAN has concluded seven packages of
commitments under AFAS.
Free Trade Agreements With Other Countries

ASEAN has concluded free trade agreements with PR

China, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and most
recently India. The agreement with People's Republic of
China created the ASEAN–China Free Trade
Area (ACFTA), which went into full effect on January 1,
2010. In addition, ASEAN is currently negotiating a free
trade agreement with the European Union. Republic of
China (Taiwan) has also expressed interest in an
agreement with ASEAN but needs to overcome
diplomatic objections from China.
Single Aviation Market

The ASEAN Single Aviation Market (SAM), proposed by the

ASEAN Air Transport Working Group, supported by the
ASEAN Senior Transport Officials Meeting, and endorsed by
the ASEAN Transport Ministers, will introduce an open-sky
arrangement to the region by 2015 .The ASEAN SAM will be
expected to fully liberalise air travel between its member
states, allowing ASEAN to directly benefit from the growth
in air travel around the world, and also freeing up tourism,
trade, investment and services flows between member
states. Beginning 1 December 2008, restrictions on the third
and fourth freedoms of the air between capital cities of
member states for air passengers services will be
removed, while from 1 January 2009, there will be full
liberalisation of air freight services in the region, while By 1
January 2011, there will be liberalisation of fifth freedom
traffic rights between all capital cities.
 OUTCOMES OF ASEAN
ASEAN covers an area of 4.46 million km2, 3%
of the total land area of Earth, with a
population of approximately 600 million
people, 8.8% of the world population.
 In 2010, its combined nominal GDP had
grown to USD $1.8 trillion. If ASEAN were a
single country, it would rank as the 9th largest
economy in the world and the 3rd largest in
Asia in terms of nominal GDP.