ISAS Working Papers

Unlike in other parts of the world, such as Africa and Latin America, regionalism (or the adoption of regional cooperation policies) is a relatively new phenomenon in Asia. Aside from the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1967, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in 1985, and several efforts to promote intra-regional trade, few policy actions were taken by the Asian countries to promote regional cooperation with each other until the mid-1990s.