South Africa: Wesgro is on a mission to unlock the access to new markets and new buyers. The provided new access will expand the opportunities in the ASEAN Market.
As a part of this effort, Wesgro has been honoured to host a high-level diplomatic delegation from the ASEAN grouping.
Reportedly, the ASEAN states have a combined GDP of US $3.8 trillion and are an important trade partner for the Western Cape, who are serving as a market for citrus, apples, pears and quinces.
Furthermore, the meeting is reinforcing the commitment to strengthen the tourism, trade and investment ties with the region over the coming year ahead.
ASEAN
Commonly known as ASEAN, stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It was established on August 08, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
It was later joined by the Brunei Darussalam, followed by Vietnam, then Lao and Myanmar and then Cambodia, making it the ten (10) Member States of ASEAN.
Objectives of ASEAN
As set out in the ASEAN Declaration, aims and purposes of ASEAN are listed below:
- ASEAN aims to accelerate the economic growth, as well as social progress and cultural development in the region. The plan is to originally expand through joint endeavours. To develop in the spirit of equality and partnership, mainly to strengthen the base foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations, as ever maintained.
- It’s objective is to promote the regional peace and stability by abiding respect for justice and the rule of law, especially in the relationship among countries of the region and adhering to the principles of the United Nations Charter.
- ASEAN also promotes active collaboration and mutual assistance on common interest matters in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields.
- It also provides assistance to others in the form of training and research facilities in educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres.
- ASEAN collaborates effectively and encourages growth in agriculture industry and trade sectors. Their objective includes improving transportation and communication facilities by conducting studies on international commodity trade with overarching goal of raising the living standards of ASEAN peoples.
- As per the ASEAN Declaration, it also promotes Southeast Asian Studies.
- ASEAN also maintains close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes, to explore all avenues for even closer cooperation among themselves.