What is Association of Southeast Asian Nations?
[[File:Association of Southeast Asian Nations (orthographic projection).svg|thumb|Association of Southeast Asian Nations in orthographic projection]] The '''Association of Southeast Asian Nations''' ('''ASEAN''') is an [[wikt:international|international]] organization. On 8th August 1967, [[Malaysia]], [[Thailand]], [[Indonesia]], [[Singapore]], and the [[Philippines]] formed the ASEAN. At that time, [[communism]] was growing in [[Vietnam]], and these five countries were also facing problems inside their own countries. In this background, these five countries created ASEAN as a show of common display of [[cooperation]]. In short, the purpose of the organization is political and economic cooperation. The organization is headquartered in [[Jakarta]], Indonesia. There had been an earlier organization called the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA). It was an international organization of [[Philippines]], [[Malaysia]], and [[Thailand]]. These three countries had formed ASA in 1961. It was named because all the countries in it are a part of [[Southeast Asia]]. In 1976, the ASEAN countries held a conference in [[Bali]]. After this, these countries started closer economic cooperation. But, by the mid-1980s, the activities of the ASEAN had slowed down. By 1991, [[Thailand]] proposed a free trade area. The ASEAN countries meet every year to talk about many matters. Originally there were only five members of the ASEAN. [[Brunei Darussalam]] joined the ASEAN on 7 January 1984. [[Vietnam]] joined the ASEAN on 28 July 1995. [[Laos]] and [[Myanmar]] joined the ASEAN on 23 July 1997. [[Cambodia]] became a member on 30th April 1999. [[East Timor]] is the only Southeast Asian country that is not a member of ASEAN. However both East Timor and [[Papua New Guinea]] (which is not considered geographically a part of Southeast Asia) are observers of ASEAN and wish to become full members of ASEAN. Some information about ASEAN countries is as follows: * About 8% of the population of the world lives in ASEAN countries. About 240 millio