ASEAN- Association of South East Asian Nations
Anthem– The ASEAN way
Motto– One vision, one identity, one community
Symbol– 10 stalks of Rice bonded together
Secretariat– Jakarta, Indonesia
Preceded by– ASA (Association of Southeast Asia) 31st July 1961
Founded by– Bangkok declaration on 8th August 1967
Founding members– Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand
First summit– Bali, Indonesia 1976
*Other members joined on—>
Brunei- 7th January 1984
Vietnam- 28th July 1995
Laos and Myanmar- 23rd July 1997
Cambodia- 30th April 1999
Total members as of now– 10
Observer members– Papua New Guinea and East Timor
Countries Interested in joining– Bangladesh, Fiji and Sri Lanka
**Suggestion- It will be easier to understand if we keep European Union in mind.
Creation of ASEAN was motivated by common fear of COMMUNISM.
It is an Inter-governmental cooperation with focus on cooperation on various topics including Economy, politics, security, military, education and socio cultural interests.
Its primary objective is economic cooperation and development
And secondary is regional peace and stability based on rule of law and UN charter.
ASEAN engages with other countries in Asia-Pacific and beyond, and is a major partner of SCO (Shanghai cooperation organization).
UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) provided the observer status to ASEAN in 2006.
ASEAN has around 9% of world’s population and sex ratio of 99.6, where males are 326.4Mn and females 327.8Mn
*THE ASEAN CHARTER
On 15th December 2008, member states met in Jakarta, Indonesia to move closer to an EU style community.
ASEAN meeting in 2021 was held in Brunei Darussalam.
Notable declaration- Nuclear free ASEAN
*This was proposed on 21st June 2001 which all the members ratified except Cambodia which later ratified it and similar treaty was proposed in 2017 when all except Singapore ratified it.
In ASEAN Vision 2020 during Bali concord II 2003, ASEAN laid out the 3 major pillars on which it relies-
1) AEC, ASEAN economic community
2) APSC, ASEAN political security community
3) ASCC, ASEAN socio-culture community
After its post vision 2015 it added one more category ‘Moving Forward’
**AEC- ASEAN economic community
AEC came into play during 13th ASEAN summit in 2007, Singapore
Notable move along with Cooperation on various topics of interests like free trade and easy movement of skilled labors was AEC scorecard for development assessment. It focused on single market and a region actively having a stature in global sphere.
**APSC- ASEAN political security community
APSC was adopted in 14th ASEAN summit.
Under this, ADIC (ASEAN defense Industry collaboration) and ASEANPOL were major decisions for better Inter- governmental operations and information sharing.
ASEAN convention on counter terrorism (ACCT) also works for regional cooperation to counter, prevent and suppress terrorism.
**ASCC- ASEAN socio-cultural community
Its blueprint was also adopted in 14th ASEAN summit and envisions a people centered and socially responsible society with common connection between people of the region and a sense of solidarity. The focus is on building ‘The ASEAN identity’.
*Cooperation in other fields –>
1) Tourism – Visa free travel and easy access of movement. Made ASEAN tourism forum and travel, tourism competitiveness index for better understanding and improvement in services provided.
2) Environment – collaborated on various issues like Haze, water pollution, plastic waste, endangered flora and fauna and green house emission.
3) Education – SEED-NET (Southeast Asia engineering education development network) and AUN (ASEAN university network) to provide easy access to education and create skilled labor force.
4) Culture – collaborated through various methods like media, music and sports. Organizing various competitions on international level and talent hunt programs which supports oneness in these actions.
ASEAN plus three– The group expanded its vision and looked upon other major countries in the region for better operability and more chance creation by having more treaties. It formed a group with three more countries which is called ASEAN+3 where ASEAN with Australia, China and New Zealand work in many fields for development, considering the pillars it was constituted upon.
ASEAN plus six– In this group the members other than ASEAN plus three are India, Japan and South Korea with objectives moreover the same of cooperating on various issues of interests.