Asean

Introduction

There are often spur debates on the merits and demerits of regional economic integration. On one side of the debate are the people who see the draw backs of regional integration which includes trade diversion, shifts in employment and loss of national sovereignty. On the other side of the debate are the people who see the benefits of regional integration which includes the creation of trade, political cooperation and better employment opportunities. However the trading block of ASEAN and APEC are likely to produce overall net benefits for Asian economies.

ASEAN

The ASEAN was founded in 1967 for strategic and security reasons as a result of the ending of confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia in 1966, and was made possible by a maturing of ideas about regional co-operation in Southeast Asia. It was also a reaction to the Vietnam War's uncertain outcome, and the need for the non-communist countries of Southeast Asia to get together in facing a possible withdrawal of the United States from the region. It is clearly seen that the establishment of this Association was due to political-security reasons. Aside from these reasons, however, the Bangkok Declaration of 1967 cites the promotion of economic, social, and cultural co-operation as reasons for the establishment of ASEAN. The Association was established on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signature of the Bangkok declaration by the five original member nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand). In 1984, Brunei Darussalam was admitted as the sixth member. In 1995, Vietnam also joined ASEAN. Lao People's Democratic Republic and Burma/Myanmar became members in 1997. Cambodia joined in 1999.

Goals of ASEAN