The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has announced that it will create a free trade area in 15 years. This decision, made in January 1992 at the Fourth ASEAN Summit, is seen as a bold decision, despite the fact that ASEAN is regarded as one of the most successful regional groupings among developing countries. All of the papers in this volume agree that although ASEAN's accomplishments in the political arena have been significant, its achievements in the area of economic co-operation have been limited. Neither its preferential trading arrangements nor its attempt at industrial co-operation have done much to increase intraregional trade and investment. In fact, until a few years ago, open discussion of the possibility of a free trade area was discouraged by ASEAN leaders.

What are the factors responsible for the remarkable transformation? And will ASEAN be able to integrate their economies although other developing countries generally have not? Are there any changes in the institutional structure of ASEAN that will contribute to the success of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)? What actual mechanisms are being used and are these appropriate and workable? These questions are discussed in the papers in this volume and at the annual ASEAN Roundtable where they were first presented.

In answering these questions, it is appropriate to start with Rolf J. Langhammer's contribution entitled, “Shaping Factors and Business Conditions in the Post-Fourth ASEAN Summit Period”. The paper provides a comprehensive panorama of the international political economy and ongoing developments — exogenous and endogenous “shaping factors” — that are impinging on rapid economic changes within the ASEAN region. Global and social economic issues including the increasing trend toward regional rather than multilateral trading systems, world-wide disarmament, capital shortages in the world economy, new markets in Eastern Europe and former Socialist Asia, international migration, environmental problems, and technological innovations in communication industries, have all had an effect on ASEAN.