On 28 January 1992, almost a quarter of a century after the founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the leaders of the then-six members of ASEAN — Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam, President Soeharto of Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore, and Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun of Thailand — met in Singapore.

It was only the fourth meeting of ASEAN's leaders in the association's almost twenty-five years of existence. Several important decisions were made at that summit.

One of those decisions was to create the ASEAN Free Trade Area. AFTA was to be achieved primarily through the Common Effective Preferential Tariff scheme, which would entail dropping, in agreed tranches and according to a common timetable, tariffs on intra-ASEAN trade to 0–5 per cent by a definite date. To “supervise, coordinate and review” this process, they set up the ministerial-level AFTA Council. However, the leaders also recognized that integrating the regional economy, which was AFTA's ultimate purpose, required more than the reduction and removal of tariffs. Thus, they committed their countries to the elimination of quantitative restrictions and other nontariff barriers to intra-ASEAN trade within specified time frames. They called on ASEAN to “encourage and facilitate free movement of capital and other financial resources”. They committed ASEAN to the development of “safe, efficient and innovative transportation and communications infrastructure networks”. They stressed the importance of strengthening postal and telecommunications services.

The Singapore Summit reiterated ASEAN's perennial concern over energy security, emphasizing in its declaration “cooperation in energy security, conservation and the search for alternative fuels”. Recognizing the importance of ASEAN awareness among the people of Southeast Asia, the ASEAN leaders directed “the expansion of ASEAN Studies as part of Southeast Asian Studies in the school and university curricula”.

With respect to ASEAN's management, the leaders decided to meet formally every three years, with an “informal” summit in each of the years inbetween. Since then, the distinction between formal and informal summits has been removed, with ASEAN Summits now held annually and the new ASEAN Charter prescribing at least twice-yearly Summit meetings. The Secretary-General was to be designated as the ASEAN Secretary-General (as against the previous designation of Secretary-General of the ASEAN Secretariat), appointed on merit and accorded ministerial status.