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WHAT'S CONSERVATIVE ASEAN UP TO SO



Subject: WHAT'S CONSERVATIVE  ASEAN UP TO SO THAT ITS POLICIES LOOK  QUAINT?

EMBARGO: Friday, 30 April 1999
1500 hours

                              ASEAN ADMITS CAMBODIA

SOURCE:ASEAN

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 10.3 million and a total area of
176,520 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.