ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an organization that was founded on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok,Thailand. lts original charter counted five memder-countires: lndonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Singapore ,and Thailand. Since then, five other nation have Jioined: Brunei in 1984, Vietham in 1995, Myanmar (Burma) and Camdodia in 1999.
The memder-countries are sprawled over an area of 1.74 milion square miles (4.5 milion square kilometers) with a combined population of 500 milion people. Their annual gross domestic product is almost $ 700 bilion US Dollars (USD), with a total trade of around $ 850 bilion USD.