JAKARTA, Apr. 30 – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) today admitted Cambodia as its tenth member fulfilling its vision to establish an organization for all Southeast Asian countries. ASEAN now comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

With Cambodia’s entry, the ASEAN region now has a total population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers, a combined gross national product of US$ 685 billion, and a total trade of US$ 720 billion. Cambodia has a population of 10.4 million and a total area of 181,035 square kilometer. Cambodia is strategically located at the center of the mainland Southeast Asia and possesses a major seaport of Sihanoukville in the southern province of Kampot.

ASEAN performed a diplomatic role in the process of restoring political stability in Cambodia, which held parliamentary elections on 26 July 1998. This process led to the formation of the new Cambodian Government on 30 November of the same year led by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

ASEAN member countries were among the most dynamic newly industrializing economies in the developing world until the outbreak of the regional financial contagion that his most of East Asia in the middle of 1997. Over the past two decades, most ASEAN economies grew at a pace of 6 to 8 percent per annum. At the same time, social indicators significantly improved as measured by the decline in the proportion of the population living in absolute poverty as well as improvements in social services. Between 1965 and 1995, ASEAN’s annual per capita GDP grew by about 4.0 percent compared with OECD’s 2.1 percent.

In its recently released 1999 Asian Development Outlook, the Asian Development Bank has projected that most ASEAN economies will begin their recovery this year. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are projected to achieve an average growth rate of 1.3 percent in 1999 and 3.28 percent in 2000.

ASEAN responded to the crisis by pursuing financial and economic reforms and boosting the region’s competitive edge through accelerated implementation of its economic liberalization policies and programmes, such as the ASEAN Free Trade Area, the ASEAN Investment Area and the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation scheme.

As part of the measures to prevent a recurrence of the financial crisis, ASEAN has launched an economic surveillance process to help the member countries keep track of macroeconomic trends and other economic and social indicators and thus alert them to any impending problem. The process is operated by a special unit at the ASEAN Secretariat with the initial funding and technical support from the Asian Development Bank. The ADB has a counterpart unit in its headquarters in Manila that provides technical support and is to train ASEAN officials in the conduct of this activity.

ASEAN was founded in 1967 to promote inter-governmental cooperation in economic, scientific, social and cultural fields as well as other transnational issues of common concern. ASEAN’s political and security cooperation is aimed at preserving the prevailing regional peace and stability.