Assess the role of ASEAN as an economic association.

ASEAN was established in 1967 by five countries of this region — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand — by signing the Bangkok Declaration. Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar (Burma) and Cambodia joined ASEAN taking its strength to ten.

1. ASEAN has strengthened its trading capacity , its economic relevance as a trading and investment partner to the growing Asian economies such as India and China, makes this an attractive proposition.

2. ASEAN has focused on creating a Free Trade Area (FTA) for investment, labour, and services.

3. The global powers like USA and China are already negotiating FTAs with ASEAN.