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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political, economic, and cultural organization of countries located in Southeast Asia. Founded in 1967, its aim is to foster cooperation and mutual assistance among members. The countries meet annually every November in summits.
The current member countries of ASEAN are (north to south): Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam - Philippines - Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore - and Indonesia.
Papua New Guinea has observer status in the ASEAN.The ASEAN also conducts dialogue meetings with other countries and an organization, collectively known as the ASEAN dialogue partners. They are
Australia, Canada, the People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China PRC comprises most of the cultural, historic, and geographic area known as China. Since its founding in 1949, it has been led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is the world's most populous country, with a population, North KoreaThe Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK Korean: Choson Minjujuui Inmin Konghwaguk Hangul: ; Hanja: ), commonly known as North Korea is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. To the south it borders South Ko, South KoreaThe Republic of Korea (ROK; Korean: Daehan Minguk ( Hangul: ; Hanja: )), commonly known as South Korea is a country in East Asia, covering the southern half of the Korean peninsula. To the north, the Republic of Korea borders North Korea, with which it fo, the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in, IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy., JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh, Mongolia, New ZealandFor alternative meanings, see New Zealand (disambiguation). New Zealand is a country formed of two major islands and a number of smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. A common Mori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa popularly translated as Land, Russia, and the European Union.ASEAN includes about 8% of the world's population and in 2003 it had a combined GDP of about US$700 billion (roughly equivalent to South Korea) and this GDP was growing at an average rate of around 4% p.a. The economies of member countries of ASEAN are diverse, although its major products include electronic goods , oil and wood.
The ASEAN countries are culturally diverse and they include the third largest number of English speakers in any other geo-political entity (after the US and UK), around 50 million, mostly in the Philippines. ASEAN includes more Muslims than any other geo-political entity -- about a quarter of a billion, mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia. Other main religions of the various peoples in the region include large numbers of Buddhists and the predominantly Catholic Philippines.
They include some of the most repressive and some of the most democratic governments in the world, with economic policies ranging from liberal and democratic to communist and socialist. ASEAN includes governments considered corrupt and governments considered transparent.