"asean" is a correct and usable word in written English.
You can use it to refer to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an economic and political organization composed of ten Southeast Asian countries. Example sentence: After years of negotiations, Thailand joined the ASEAN in 1997.
But they may not have guessed that they would have been faced with it so soon.Mahathir Mohamad, the 71-year-old prime minister of Malaysia, recently back from a two-month holiday but evidently none the mellower for it, thinks ASEAN countries should boycott the next summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting, which is due to take place in London next April.
Already, with the exception of American and European involvement in natural-gas developments, ASEAN countries were Myanmar's largest foreign investors.
The "ASEAN way" involves consensus, bonhomie and progress that is at best incremental and often imperceptible.
Intra-ASEAN trade, boosted by an inchoate free-trade area, has boomed; ASEAN institutions (and meetings) have proliferated.ASEAN's achievements should not be belittled.
The investment, by and large, would still come from beyond ASEAN, and most of the goods produced would end up overseas too.But formally, at least, ASEAN is designed to promote trade and investment among its members, not with outsiders.
It also set out a bold vision to turn ASEAN into an Asian "economic community" inspired by the European common market.
Only exports most affected by the China-ASEAN pact are to be freed on signature in June, and agreements on intellectual-property rights and investment-protection are to be negotiated.
The ten members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations ASEANN) have held meetings with Japan, China and South Korea for seven years in a row.
Regional economic co-operation looks more than ever a good idea; but the AFTA project may be set back by premature expansion.So, too, will the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), where the group confers with big powers such as America, China, Japan, Russia and the European Union.
Instead, the country is moving towards the more pro-business policies associated with the booming economies of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN .Palaniappan Chidambaram, the fi nance minister, has cut all income-tax rates by ten percentage points--the top rate is now 30%.
Indonesia is more interested in pursuing another incipient trade pact, involving China and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN .Rivalry from this "Asian" group is more sand in the TPP's gears.
