Countries involved; Established in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) aims to

accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and to promote regional
peace and stability through the rule of law and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. The
ASEAN Charter, which entered into force on 15 December 2008, provides a legal and institutional framework
to support the realisation of ASEAN's objectives, including regional integration.ASEAN comprises ten
countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.ASEAN has ten Dialogue Partners: Australia, Canada, China, EU, India, Japan, New
Zealand, ROK, Russia and the United States.
Objectives
1. Enhancing intra-regional connectivity promotes economic growth, narrows thedevelopment gaps by
sharing the benefits of growth with poorer groups and communities,enhances the competitiveness of ASEAN,
and connects its Member States within the regionand with the rest of the world.
2. The concept of ASEAN Connectivity would complement and support integrationwithin ASEAN and within
the broader regional framework in East Asia and beyond. Thedeepening and widening of connectivity in the
region would reinforce ASEANs position asthe hub of the East Asia region and preserve the centrality of
ASEAN, which could further bestrengthened through realising the potentials of a broader connectivity in the
longer term withits partners in the wider region. Figure 1.1 below illustrates the vision and goals of ASEAN
Connectivity.
Vision
3. Consistent with ASEAN Vision 2020, ASEAN is envisioned as a concert of SoutheastAsian nations, outwardlooking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together inpartnership in dynamic development and
in a community of caring societies. Developmentand achievement of enhanced ASEAN Connectivity will need
a common ASEAN vision witha long-term and sustainable approach for Connectivity, taking into
consideration the need topromote local economic and social development and connectivity, mitigating
environmentalimpacts, and synchronising domestic connectivity with regional connectivity. The vision an
enhanced ASEAN Connectivity will strengthen the ASEAN motto of One Vision, OneIdentity, One Community
and address the baseline situation, the policy options, the fundingmechanisms, and the implementation
arrangements. It would also take into account thedifferentiated responsibilities and competencies of ASEAN
and its Member States.
Goals
4. The Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity is envisaged to connect ASEAN throughenhanced physical
infrastructure development (physical connectivity), effective institutionalarrangements (institutional
connectivity) and empowered people (people-to-peopleconnectivity). Building an enhanced ASEAN
Connectivity requires not only the development of new strategies and institutions, but also investment in
more effective implementation ofexisting and future initiatives.
5. The goals of enhanced ASEAN Connectivity are:

(i) To enhance integration and cooperation of ASEAN;

(ii) To enhance global competitiveness of ASEAN through stronger production
networks;
(iii) To enhance the well-being and livelihood of ASEAN peoples;
(iv) To enhance rules and good governance for ASEAN;7
(v) To enhance connections to economic centres both within the ASEAN region
and within individual Member States and narrow the development gaps;
(vi) To enhance local economic and social development;
(vii) To enhance efforts to tackle climate change as well as promote sustainable
development; and
(viii) To address the negative impacts of Connectivity.
Objectives
6. To achieve the goals, the Master Plan sets out the following objectives for an
enhanced ASEAN Connectivity:
(i) To consolidate existing work plans related to connectivity and prioritise and
enhance actions, taking into account related existing sub-regional cooperation
[4]

[5]

frameworks;
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN /si.n/ AH-see-ahn, /zi.n/ AH-zee[6][7]
ahn)
is a political and economic organisation of ten countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8
[8]
August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has
expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam. Its aims include
accelerating economic growth, social progress, sociocultural evolution among its members, protection of regional
[9]
peace and stability, and opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully. ASEAN covers a
land area of 4.46 million km, which is 3% of the total land area of Earth, and has a population of approximately
600 million people, which is 8.8% of the world's population. The sea area of ASEAN is about three times larger than
[10]
its land counterpart. In 2012, its combined nominal GDP had grown to more than US$2.3 trillion. If ASEAN were
a single entity, it wouldrank as the seventh largest economy in the world, behind the US, China, Japan, Germany,
France and the United Kingdom.

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