The 1967 Bangkok Declaration established the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by the five founding members of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. ASEAN was joined by Brunei (hereafter collectively referred to as the ASEAN 6) in 1984 and by Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (hereafter collectively referred to as CLMV) in 1995 – 9. The twopage ASEAN Declaration contains the aims and purposes of the Association, which include cooperation in the economic, social, cultural, technical, educational and other fields, the promotion of regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law, and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. The initial objective of ASEAN was to prevent regional conflicts, build mutual confidence and promote regional stability and security so as to lay the regional foundation for the pursuit of economic development. Reference to economic cooperation was partly to dispel suspicions of ASEAN being a military alliance. It is to be noted that in the early years only ASEAN foreign ministers met regularly.

A new era of economic cooperation and integration began with the first ASEAN Summit of heads of state in 1976, followed by meetings of economic ministers. Economic cooperation schemes began in 1977 with the ASEAN Preferential Trading Arrangement (ASEAN PTA), followed by several industrial cooperation schemes. In 1992, in response to a rapidly changing global economic and strate gic environment, ASEAN took the first serious step towards economic integration with the agreement on the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). This was followed in 1995 by the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS), and in 1998 by the agreement on the ASEAN Investment Area (AIA).

It should be recalled that in 1992 India was still mostly an inwardlooking, poor country dealing with a major financial crisis and China was growing but still a relatively minor player in international markets.