| THE ASSOCIATION | |
 With Cambodia's admission in 1999, ASEAN encompassed all of Southeast Asia. | ||
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The founders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) envisioned it as eventually bringing together all the countries of Southeast Asia and getting them to cooperate in securing the region's peace, stability and development. At the time the region was in tumult; several countries were struggling for national survival or independence. Thus, only five countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- signed the ASEAN Declaration of 8 August 1967.
Thirty-two years later - on 30 April 1999 - ASEAN encompassed all ten countries of Southeast Asia by admitting Cambodia. (Brunei Darussalam had been admitted in 1984, Viet Nam in 1995, and Laos and Myanmar in 1997). Not only has the association achieved the inclusion of all of Southeast Asia within its fold, a goal that it had set for itself at its birth. It has also evolved into one of the most influential regional associations in the world. | ||
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