Source: CCTV.com

10-26-2006 13:53

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of a dialogue between China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations, usually known as ASEAN. On Monday, south China's city of Nan Ning will hold a commemorative summit to mark the event.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations consists of ten member countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ASEAN covers an area of 4.5 million square kilometers, and encompasses a population of about 500 million. And it has a combined GDP of almost 870 million US dollars.

Papua New Guinea is not a member, but it has observer status. The association also has a number of partners in dialogue, including: the USA, Japan, Australia, Canada, the EU, China, South Korea, Russia and India.

ASEAN was established on August 8th, 1967 in Bangkok. Its goals are the acceleration of economic growth, social progress, and cultural development, in addition to promoting regional peace and stability.

ASEAN strives to play an important role in the international community, especially when it comes to the region's common interests. And it continues to develop cooperative relationships with its partners in dialogue.

China began dialogue with the ASEAN in 1991, and became its full partner in 1995. And ties have seen rapid developments ever since. Trade between China and ASEAN reached 114 billion US dollars in 2005, making China ASEAN's fourth largest trading partner.

 

Editor:Wang Ping