ASEAN Overview
What is ASEAN?
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded in 1967. ASEAN’s founding members agreed on the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in 1976.
ASEAN now brings together ten Member States: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The ASEAN Community has three pillars covering Political-Security, Economic and Socio-Cultural issues.
In 2022, the total combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the ten ASEAN Member States was £2.8 trillion, making ASEAN equivalent to the fifth largest economy in the world.
Further reading from the Department for Business and Trade:
Dr Kao Kim Hourn reflects on his 1st year as Secretary-General of ASEAN
ASEAN-UK Partnership
In 2012, the UK acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC).
In November 2019, we opened the UK mission to ASEAN and welcomed the first UK Ambassador to ASEAN. The UK has Embassies or High Commissions in all ten ASEAN Member States.
On 5 August 2021, the UK became an ASEAN Dialogue Partner, the first new Dialogue Partner in 25 years.
In September 2021, the UK attended the first ASEAN Economic Ministers-UK Consultation, the first Ministerial meeting since becoming a Dialogue Partner. At this meeting, we agreed the ASEAN-UK Joint Ministerial Declaration on Future Economic Cooperation.
In July 2022, the UK hosted the first ASEAN-UK Senior Officials Meeting in London.
On 4 August 2022, we agreed our first ASEAN/UK Plan of Action outlining our cooperation with ASEAN over the next 5 years across Political and Security, Economic and Socio-Cultural issues.
In September 2022 the UK attended the second ASEAN Economic Ministers UK Consultation.
In June 2023 Brunei hosted the second ASEAN-UK Senior Officials Meeting in Brunei.
In July 2023, the Foreign Secretary attended his first annual ASEAN-UK Post Ministerial Council in Jakarta.
