ASEAN

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.  It's a regional block made up of ten countries, something like the Southeast Asian version of the European Union.

Originally formed, by five countries, in 1961 as the Association of Southeast Asia, the group was intended as an alliance against communism.  Over the years it has developed into a powerful economic area.

The member nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.  Although not members, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste both have observer status.

ASEAN is diverse.  There are 10 official languages but English is the working language.  Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country while over 95% of Thailand is Buddhist and over 80% of the Philippines is Roman Catholic.

If ASEAN were a single country then it would be the world's 7th-largest economy.  By 2050 it is projected to be the world's 4th-largest economy.  ASEAN is home to more than 600 million people making it the world's 3rd-largest market.

In 2006, it received observer status at the UN General Assembly.  There's talk one day of having a single currency. like the Euro, but that's way down the road.

Here's a short video from 2016 that I found out on YouTube.

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