Which are ASEAN’s structure, principles and goals?
ASEAN is composed of ten member states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ASEAN has three ‘communities’, the Political-Security Community, Economic Community and the Socio-Cultural Community. Each community issues a ‘blueprint’, a document forming the basis for its activities.
The ASEAN Secretariat is based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and has numerous offices and administrative centres throughout the region. The chairmanship of ASEAN rotates annually and key meetings take place in the country which currently holds the chairmanship. ASEAN is at the centre of other regional fora, such as ASEAN+3 (China, Japan, Republic of Korea), the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum. It maintains privileged relations with other states and organisations, with whom it enjoys varying degrees of association; there are ten Dialogue Partners (Australia, Canada, China, EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, USA) four Sectoral Dialogue Partners (Norway, Pakistan, Switzerland, Turkey) and two Development Partners (Germany and Chile).