ASEAN Economic Co-operation

Abstract

Whatever the political motivations behind the 1967 Bangkok Declaration, the stated aims, principles and purposes of ASEAN were primarily economic in character (see Appendix A). In fact, however, economic co-operation really only began in earnest in 1967. It has been sustained since then as a result of a conscious political commitment on the part of the ASEAN leaderships, who see economic co-operation as a principal element in their concept of regionalism. The development of this co-operation has not been easy, given the complex of differences and similarities between the five ASEAN countries and their economies.

This Chapter draws on material prepared for the Tenth Pacific Trade and Development Conference, held at the Australian National University, in Canberra, in March 1979. Proceedings appear in Ross Garnaut (ed.), ASEAN in a Changing Pacific and World Economy (Canberra: ANU Press, 1980).