Introduction

This chapter traces the evolution of economic co-operation among economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since the organization started more than twenty-five years ago. Economic co-operation grew from earlier co-operation arrangements with varying rationale, composition, and instrumentalities although there was already recognition of the mutual benefits from co-operation.

In the next section, ASEAN economies are described, using narrow macroeconomic and trade indicators that allow comparison among them. Specifically, a description of the environment under which cooperation grew and expanded over the years is discussed. A picture of the region would undoubtedly best describe the setting for common activities that were eventually pursued.

Section III gives details on the formation and organization of ASEAN from a variety of initiatives. This is not a digression into a historical account of many co-operation attempts from among ASEAN members and non-members but an argument to show that previous foundations (for example, political, social, security) were part of the fabric that fashioned ASEAN economic co-operation. The road to the region's organization has had many fits and starts. In the end, however, the lessons learned from previous arrangements proved invaluable in framing ASEAN's co-operation agenda.

Section IV focuses on the mechanisms for ASEAN economic cooperation. The evolution of the organizational hierarchy is explained from the First to the Fifth Summit. The evolution of the ASEAN Secretariat is likewise explained since, though inter-governmental, it dictated the pace of ASEAN economic co-operation activities. The increasing role of the ASEAN Secretariat, especially in the area of economic co-operation, takes cognizance of the parallel organizational changes at the senior official level. The section ends with an elaboration of the ASEAN Secretariat's specific functions in economic cooperation.

The ASEAN Economies

The countries that banded together in contemporary Asian history spanned from New Zealand to the Republic of Korea, from Thailand to Pakistan, though only the ASEAN grouping metamorphosed in substance and character in the last twenty-five years. From an original membership of five states, it expanded to seven in 1995 and is likely to increase to ten before the end of the century. From a plethora of ad hoc co-operation activities, it took bolder steps towards a more cohesive cooperation framework. From separate and individualized markets, it now plots a direction towards one single market.