ASEAN Community started when 5 Southeast Asian leaders decided to form a union to foster the bond

within their respective nations. The countries included in this union are Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Over the past years, more countries have joined the ASEAN union,
including Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. ASEAN is a regional grouping
that promotes economic, political, and security cooperation among its ten members. ASEAN countries
have a total population of 650 million people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.8
trillion. The bloc's biggest challenge, experts say, is developing a unified approach to China and ASEAN
has contributed to regional stability by developing much-needed norms and fostering a neutral
environment to address shared challenges, experts say. "In Asia, talking and relationship building is half
the challenge to solving problems," says Murray Hiebert, senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program
at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

ASEAN was created to help Southeast Asian countries to develop Economic growth, Socio-cultural
development, and Political-Security. This union aims to help strengthen and stabilize each country's
economic growth and development. Through the ASEAN integration, member countries support each
other in preventing rampant piracy, terrorism, and drug trafficking. Its objective is to promote economic
growth, social progress, and cultural development in the Southeast Asian region through multilateral
cooperation. It also functions as a non-political platform to maintain peace and stability among member
states and external partners. This initiative also aims to foster economic development, meaning more
job opportunities and industries as well, as promote social responsibilities in times of disaster.