Asean gets an 'A' as it celebrates its 50th year
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have been successful in cooperating to improve regional trade and investment, and also in tourism.
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THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations (known as Asean) celebrated its 50th anniversary in early August. The regional cooperative was established in 1967 with Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore as founding members. Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia later joined.
Back in 1967, the region was filled with strife; and the association was established to help bring peace, stability and prosperity. Asean's broad aim and purpose is stated as: "To accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community."
The spirit of peaceful cooperation has been dubbed the "Asean Way" and has been accompanied by impressive growth over the past 50 years. Asean today represents the world's seventh largest market with the third largest labour force (behind China and India), and there are projections that it will become the fourth largest economic bloc by 2030.
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