<Li> Calculated using UNDP data from member states . </Li> <P> The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN / ˈɑːsiɑːn / AH - see - ahn, / ˈɑːziɑːn / AH - zee - ahn) is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising ten Southeast Asian countries, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its members and other Asian states . It also regularly engages other states in the Asia - Pacific region and beyond . Being a global powerhouse, the central union for cooperation in Asia - Pacific, and one of the world's most prominent and influential organisations, ASEAN maintains a global network of alliances and dialogue partners . It is involved in numerous international affairs, and hosts diplomatic missions throughout the world . It is a major partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), developing cooperation model with the organisation for the peace, stability, development and sustainability of the Asian continent . It also serves as an international role model in seeking harmony and strength among diversity and differences, as well as a leading figure in global economy, trade, diplomacy and politics . </P> <P> ASEAN was preceded by an organization formed in 31 July 1961 called the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), a group consisting of the Philippines, Federation of Malaya, and Thailand . ASEAN itself was created on 8 August 1967, when the foreign ministers of five countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, signed the ASEAN Declaration . As set out in the Declaration, the aims and purposes of ASEAN are to accelerate economic growth, social progress, and cultural development in the region, to promote regional peace, collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest, to provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities, to collaborate for better utilisation of agriculture and industry to raise the living standards of the people, to promote Southeast Asian studies and to maintain close, beneficial co-operation with existing international organisations with similar aims and purposes . </P> <P> The creation of ASEAN was motivated by a common fear of communism, ASEAN achieved greater cohesion in the mid-1970s following a change in balance of power after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 . The region's dynamic economic growth during the 1970s strengthened the organization, enabling ASEAN to adopt a unified response to Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia in 1979 . ASEAN's first summit meeting, held in Bali, Indonesia in 1976, resulted in an agreement on several industrial projects and the signing of a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, and a Declaration of Concord . The end of the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s allowed ASEAN countries to exercise greater political independence in the region, and in the 1990s ASEAN emerged as a leading voice on regional trade and security issues . </P>

Where was the 1st meeting of asean tourism ministers held