Stimulating economic growth, increasing jobs and reducing poverty are primarily the responsibility of individual countries. However, ASEAN cooperates in this vital endeavour in several ways. One is by significantly contributing to peace and stability in the region, without which investments are discouraged, economic development is retarded, and lives and livelihoods are disrupted. ASEAN has laid the foundations for regional economic integration, through which investors can be attracted by the prospect of a large regional market. ASEAN countries also learn from one another in matters like vocational training for young people in skills needed by a modern economy.