The city is the seat of the ASEAN Secretariat.

The ASEAN Charter is intended to bolster the ASEAN Secretariat ’ s ability to ensure consistent application of AFTA measures.

Again, the ASEAN Secretariat may help mediate a dispute but has no legal authority to resolve it.

The ASEAN Secretariat has no legal authority to resolve such disputes, so disputes are resolved bilaterally through informal means or through dispute resolution.

She served as Director-General of the ASEAN National Secretariat of the Philippines.

The partners are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, European Commission and ASEAN Secretariat.

* Bangkok Declaration at ASEAN Secretariat site

Aside from relations with other ASEAN states, Brunei also has extensive relations with the Islamic and Arab world.

French, once common in government and commerce, has declined in usage, while knowledge of English-the language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN )-has increased in recent years.

Kuala Lumpur was the site of the first East Asia Summit in 2005, and Malaysia has chaired ASEAN, the OIC, and the NAM in the past.

While Burma's presence in ASEAN was seen as a test of the organisation's philosophy of constructive engagement, the presence of Burma in ASEAN however has started to be seen as an embarrassment to the organisation, because of Burma's human rights record and lack of democracy.

Recently, Thailand also has been an active member in the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ), especially after democratic rule was restored in 1992.

It has developed increasingly close ties with other ASEAN members — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and Vietnam — whose foreign and economic ministers hold annual meetings.

It has developed increasingly close ties with other ASEAN members — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and Vietnam — whose foreign and economic ministers hold annual meetings.

ASEAN Free Trade Area has been established to encourage greater trade among ASEAN members.

ASEAN has also been a front runner in greater integration of Asia-Pacific region through East Asia Summits.

It has a permanent display of the work of a sculptor from each of the original ASEAN countries.

Australia has devoted particular attention to relations between developed and developing nations, with emphasis on the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ) — Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Brunei — and the island states of the South Pacific.

However, East Timor has expressed its intention of gaining observer status to ASEAN in July 2002 and in 2006 was spoken of as requiring five years to become an ASEAN member.

ASEAN on the other hand has been inviting the small nation to many of ASEAN ministerial meetings as a sign of goodwill.

Thailand has the largest plantations of the ASEAN nations, followed by Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

The Colombo Plan currently has 27 members, including countries in the Asia-Pacific region, non Commonwealth countries and countries belonging to regional groupings such as ASEAN ( Association of South-East Asian Nations ) and SAARC ( South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ).

The Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City has been a venue for national and international athletic events ; such as the 23rd Southeast Asian Games men's football and the 2006 ASEAN football qualifiers.

This has led to inconsistent rulings by ASEAN national authorities.

ASEAN has attempted to improve customs coordination through the implementation of the ASEAN Single Window project.

These difficulties arise because each ASEAN national customs authority interprets and implements the Form D requirements without much coordination.

A cornerstone of Indonesia's contemporary foreign policy is its participation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ), of which it was a founding member in 1967 with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

While organized to promote common economic, social, and cultural goals, ASEAN acquired a security dimension after Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia in 1979 ; this aspect of ASEAN expanded with the establishment of the ASEAN Regional Forum in 1994, which comprises 22 countries, including the U. S. Indonesia's continued domestic troubles have distracted it from ASEAN matters and consequently lessened its influence within the organization.

Japan was the number one foreign investor in the ASEAN countries, with cumulative investment as of March 1989 of about US $ 14. 5 billion, more than twice that of the United States.

Toshiki Kaifu's much publicized spring 1991 tour of five Southeast Asian nations — Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines — culminated in a 3 May major foreign policy address in Singapore, in which he called for a new partnership with the ASEAN and pledged that Japan would go beyond the purely economic sphere to seek an " appropriate role in the political sphere as a nation of peace.

In 2005 the ASEAN plus Three countries together with India, Australia and New Zealand held the inaugural East Asia Summit ( EAS ).

Nonetheless, Malaysia was active in the opposition to apartheid that saw South Africa quit the Commonwealth in 1961, and was a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ) in 1967 and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference ( OIC ) in 1969, with the Tunku as its first Secretary-General in 1971.

He long sought to establish an East Asian Economic Group as an alternative to APEC, excluding Australia, New Zealand and the Americas, and during his premiership Malaysia signed up to an ASEAN Free Trade Area ( AFTA ) and ASEAN + 3, a regional forum with China, Japan and South Korea.

Debbie Stothard of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma stated that mining operators used drugs on employees to improve productivity, with needles shared, raising the risk of HIV infection: " These rubies are red with the blood of young people.

Recently, ASEAN did take a stronger tone with Burma, particularly regards to the detention of now-released Aung San Suu Kyi.

Relations with Vietnam and Cambodia have thawed in the 1990s after their entry into the ASEAN.

In accordance with this worldview, Singapore ’ s foreign policy is aimed at maintaining friendly relations with all countries, especially Malaysia, Indonesia, and ASEAN, and ensuring that its actions do not exacerbate its neighbors ’ insecurities.

Thailand's foreign policy includes support for ASEAN – in the interest of regional stability-and emphasizes a close and longstanding security relationship with the United States.

Within months of the 1991 Paris Agreements, Vietnam established diplomatic and economic relations with Association of South-East Asian Nations ( ASEAN ) member states and also with most countries of Western Europe and Asia's Far East.

Laos is a member of the following international organizations: Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation ( ACCT ), Association of Southeast Asian NationsASEAN, ASEAN Free Trade Area ( AFTA ), ASEAN Regional Forum, Asian Development Bank, Colombo Plan, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific ( ESCAP ), Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ), Group of 77G-77, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( World Bank ), International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO ), International Development Association ( IDA ), International Fund for Agricultural Development ( IFAD ), International Finance Corporation ( IFC ), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Labour Organization ( ILO ), International Monetary Fund ( IMF ), Intelsat ( nonsignatory user ), Interpol, International Olympic Commission ( IOC ), International Telecommunication UnionITU, Mekong Group, Non-Aligned Movement ( NAM ), Permanent Court of Arbitration ( PCA ), United Nations, United Nations Convention on Trade and Development ( UNCTAD ), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ), United Nations Industrial Development Organization ( UNIDO ), Universal Postal Union ( UPU ), World Federation of Trade Unions, World Health Organization ( WHO ), World Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO ), World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ), World Tourism Organization, World Trade Organization ( observer ).

Asean Free Trade Area ( AFTA ) is a trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries.

When the AFTA agreement was originally signed, ASEAN had six members, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

AFTA now comprises the ten countries of ASEAN.

All the four latecomers were required to sign the AFTA agreement in order to join ASEAN, but were given longer time frames in which to meet AFTA's tariff reduction obligations.

Administration of AFTA is handled by the national customs and trade authorities in each ASEAN member.

Instead, ASEAN national authorities must rely on the review and analysis of other ASEAN national authorities to determine if AFTA measures such as rule of origin are being followed.

An ASEAN Protocol on Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanism governs formal dispute resolution in AFTA and other aspects of ASEAN.

This can also be frustrating for companies affected by an AFTA dispute, as they have no rights to invoke dispute resolution yet their home ASEAN government may not be willing to invoke the Protocol.

The ASEAN Secretary General has listed dispute resolution as requiring necessary reform for proper administration of AFTA and the AEC.

* The establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area ( AFTA )