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This international organization was established in 1967 to promote economic cooperation and development and, more generally, collaboration in all matters of common interest. Since Cambodia\'s admission in 1999, its members encompass all ten south-east Asian states: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Papua New Guinea has observer status. Its headquarters and central secretariat are in Jakarta, Indonesia. The secretary-generalship rotates among the member states every three years in the alphabetical order of their names. ASEAN\'s supreme organ is the meeting of Heads of Government, which gathers in formal session every three years, and informally in the intervening years. Each year there is a policy-making Meeting of Foreign Ministers, popularly known as AMM, the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting. It rotates among the member states on an alphabetical basis. There is also an annual meeting to arrange economic cooperation, the ASEAN Economic Meeting (AEM). In 1992 it was decided to set up an ASEAN Free Trade Area with a view to establishing a common market within 15 years. However, all progress within ASEAN has to overcome the problems presented by the geographical size and diversity of its area, and the political and economic divisions that exist among its member states. |
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