ASEAN member countries: list

On August 8, 1967, the unification of states in one organization was accomplished in Southeast Asia. ASEAN member countries defined two statutory objectives of the Association: to promote the development of cultural and socio-economic cooperation between the members of the organization and stability and the strengthening of peace in Southeast Asia.

Sequence of entry

Initially, the Association had five members: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines. Only in 1984, the ASEAN countries accepted the Brunei Darussalam state.

In 1995, Vietnam was added, in 1997 - Myanmar and Laos, and in 1999 - Cambodia. At the moment, ASEAN member countries have ten members of their Association. Plus Papua - New Guinea with the status of a special observer.

Tasks of the Association

Before the organization the task was rather complicated, with many components: to turn this regional grouping into the world economic and political center of the multipolar world, and this task was at the forefront, it is necessary to form free trade zones and investment zones.

But this is impossible without the introduction of a single monetary unit and the creation of an economic infrastructure of the expanded type. And in order to fulfill all of the above, you need to create a special management structure. With this and it was decided to begin.

The crisis of 1997

The world currency and financial crisis in 1997 could not but affect Southeast Asia. ASEAN member countries have gone through serious trials, as the consequences of the crisis have had a negative impact on the economic and political course. A little less went to Singapore and Brunei, but they also overcame all sorts of difficulties for two years. The remaining countries that are part of ASEAN were on the verge of seceding from the Association.

However, the "ten" continued the policy of integration in the economic sphere, having overcome this test and reinforced the determination not to abandon the plans on the half of the road. Their perseverance was rewarded: by the end of 1999, many negative trends had been overcome, and, in general, it was even noticeable that some economic growth had begun, reaching just under six percent in 2000.

Structure

The highest organ of the organization, which was established by the ASEAN countries, is the meetings of governments and heads of state, which solve all the main questions posed to the Association. Manages and coordinates the actions of the annual meeting, which is held at the MFA level, in each country in turn (COM). The current leadership is the permanent committee, which is chaired by the foreign minister of the country where the next COM is being held.

In addition, the Secretariat, headed by the Secretary-General, constantly operates in the city of Jakarta. There are eleven specialized committees in every field of activity. Within ASEAN, the participating countries, listed above, hold more than three hundred events per year. The legal basis was introduced back in 1976 (the Bali Treaty, which supports friendship and cooperation in Southeast Asia).

Economy

The area of economy in the Southeast Asia region is subject to high risks, therefore, the countries of the Association pursue a line for liberalization and integration on the basis of the Agreement on the creation of free trade zones (AFTA), the Framework Agreement on Investment Zones (AIA) and the Basic Agreement on Industrial Cooperation Schemes (AICO) .

Since the development program has a long-term option, which was developed by an expert group of leading scientists and politicians, businessmen and military leaders, ASEAN plans to achieve higher integration than in the European Union. And this: the unification of the banking sphere of the states completely, the unified armed forces and the police for the whole Association, the unified departments, both foreign policy and scientific and technological. And this is far from all the plans that the ASEAN countries have built for themselves. The list of them is not replenished, but everything is possible.

APHTHA

The most consolidated grouping of Asian countries, united by the same economic tasks, is the ASEAN free trade zone. She "ripened" to the fourth meeting of governments and heads of state in 1992. At first there were only six countries, and this continued until 1996, when Vietnam joined the AFTA with the accession to ASEAN. Gradually until 1999, the membership grew to ten participants.

What countries are members of ASEAN are known. And what else can join the Association in the near future? Papua New Guinea is still looking to the prospects. The free trade zone was created with an eye to subregional trade turnover in order to activate trade within ASEAN. The conditions for the growth of such mutual trade should have affected the competitiveness of the economies of their own countries. Plus to this - political consolidation and connection to such cooperation of even less developed countries of Southeast Asia.

CEPT

The free trade zone requires a special economic tool. ASEAN has an agreement on a general effective preferential tariff (CEPT). All the participating countries signed this agreement at the Singapore summit in 1992. The adopted scheme of CEPT divides all products into four categories. The first - with the level of tariffs, subject to reduction according to the usual or accelerated schedule. This group of goods constitutes 88% of the total commodity nomenclature of all ASEAN countries and is still expanding.

The two following categories of goods are on the list of seizures. One of them represents goods that are important for the nation. Security, morality protection, for people's health and life, as well as fauna and flora, all art, archaeological and historical values. The second category of goods for seizure is not subject to tariff reductions for reasons of the domestic economy, and there is a steady reduction in the number of such goods. The fourth category - agricultural raw materials - was initially completely excluded from the CEPT scheme. But in 1995, special conditions were set for reducing tariffs on these groups of goods.

Industrial cooperation

To increase the competitiveness of goods produced in the ASEAN zone and, accordingly, to attract investment in this region, new forms of industrial cooperation were brought in. The Basic Agreement (AICO) of the ASEAN member countries was signed in 1996.

Under this scheme, AIKO is called upon to regulate production, except for products included with the List of Seizures under the CEPT Treaty. Now this applies only to industrial production, but it is planned to intervene in other sectors of the economy. And a number of parameters in industrial cooperation programs have been changed. Tariff and non-tariff methods of regulation became more widely used.

Objectives of AICO

First of all, the course is taken to increase production, increase the number and quality of investment in the ASEAN countries from third countries, deepen integration, expand domestic trade, improve the technological base, conquer the world market with competitive products, encourage, grow and develop private entrepreneurship. The condition for the creation of each new company was the participation of at least two enterprises of different countries with a minimum of thirty percent of the national capital.

There are a number of preferences - preferential tariff rates from the moment of creation, which gives an advantage in comparison with the producers, which, according to the CEPT, will reach this level only in a few years. In addition to this, non-tariff preferences are also envisaged - obtaining incidents, including. If the producer reorientes the enterprise from raw materials and semi-finished products to the final product, AICO provides additional incentives - preferential tariff rates and unrestricted trade in the ASEAN markets, while access to intermediate products and raw materials is severely restricted.

AIA

The creation of the investment zone was due to the 1998 Framework Agreement. Such a zone covers all the ASEAN territories, and domestic and foreign investments are attracted through franchising: investors are granted a national regime, tax breaks, cancellation of restrictions on many parameters, even allowed investments in inaccessible sectors of the economy, except those on the Temporary Exclusion List or in Delicacy list.

The peculiarity of this Agreement is that it concerns only direct investments, without hurting portfolio investments. The ASEAN member countries have significant differences in the level of economic development of the states, therefore the Framework Agreement was formulated taking into account the gradual reduction of the List of temporary exclusions to the total rejection - but not for everyone, but only for Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore - in 2010 Th year. Later, the countries joining ASEAN had to use the List for much longer. The Council of the AIA liquidated the lists for all in 2003.