In August 1967 Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand established the Association of South East Asian Nations by signing the Bangkok declaration. The aims of ASEAN are listed in the Bangkok declaration and include the following:

• To accelerate 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 of South East Asian Nations.

• The promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries of the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations charter.

• To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields.

The declaration made clear that all states in the South East Asian region could participate in the association, provided that they subscribe to the aims, principles and purposes of ASEAN. In January 1984, Brunei Darussalam, was the first country in the region that joined ASEAN. In the 1990s, all other countries in the region joined ASEAN: Vietnam (1995), Laos (1997), Myanmar (1997) and Cambodia (1999).

In 1977 the members of ASEAN at that time signed the Agreement of ASEAN Preferential Trading Arrangement (PTA) that provides for the adoption of various instruments on trade liberalisation on a preferential basis. In 1992, the ASEAN leaders agreed to establish an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) through the common effective preferential tariff (CEPT) Scheme, which accelerates tariff reductions on trade within the region.

For more information on ASEAN, see the ASEAN website.

The EU-ASEAN relationship

In 1972 the European Economic Community (EEC) started a dialogue to establish informal relations with ASEAN. In March 1980 the links with the EEC were institutionalised with the signing of the EC-ASEAN Co-operation Agreement. The Agreement only applies to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. While the agreement will be extended to Laos and Cambodia in the near future, the EU is not willing to extend this Agreement to Myanmar as long there is no progress regarding democracy and human rights in that country.

The aims of the Co-operation Agreement include commercial, economic and technical co-operation. The Joint Co-operation Committee (JCC) was established to monitor ASEAN-EEC co-operation. JCC Meetings are held approximately every 18 months to discuss on-going and future actions. Various meetings offer the opportunity for the EU and ASEAN to review political, security, economic and development co-operation issues that affect the two parties. Especially in the field of development co-operation there is a shift from a donor-recipient relationship to one based on equal partnership and mutual benefit.

The ASEAN region is of growing economic importance to the EU, both as a market and as a gateway to the rest of the Asia Pacific area. As a region, ASEAN was the main beneficiary of the Generalised System of Preferences signed in 1993. Singapore was excluded from the system because of its high level of development. In the last few years Thailand and Indonesia have also lost the benefits of the GSP for important products as they have increased their level of development. ASEAN and the EU are currently working on a number of projects that intend to enhance trade and economic flows between the two regions.

Besides economic and commercial co-operation, importance was attached to development co-operation, especially in the form of technical assistance. Over time, the fields of assistance have changed, reflecting ASEAN’s concerns and priorities. While in the early period emphasis was put on agriculture, industry etc., in 1997 co-operation in the fields of intellectual property rights, standards and the harmonisation of customs procedures has been initiated.