Die Integrationsbestrebungen der ASEAN - Abriß einer Bestandsaufnahme zu Beginn der 80er Jahre

Abstract The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded in 1967, based on the premise that cooperation among nations in the spirit of equality and partnership would bring mutual benefits and stimulate solidarity which could contribute to building the foundations for peace, stability and prosperity in the world community at large and in the ASEAN region in particular. But it took nearly eight years and even more importantly the creation of three communist countries in Indochina in 1975 to spur the heads of state to finally meet on Bali and in Kuala Lumpur. There they considered strategies to strengthen the economic and cultural ties of their countries. Since then ASEAN has been trying to promote co-operation in various economic areas: industry, trade, banking, insurance, among others - and to build up a reasonable organizational structure to accelerate the exchange of information and decisionmaking. The political, sociological, economic and cultural heterogeneity of the region makes it necessary for the countries to get together step-by-step in a "South-East-Asian" way to guarantee peace, stability and neutrality.