Dialogue Partners

ASEAN Dialogue Partners are States or inter-governmental organizations with which ASEAN interacts on a formal basis. There are currently 10 dialogue partners: Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States of America. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also has dialogue status and Pakistan is a sectoral dialogue partner. ASEAN has concluded free trade agreements with the majority of its dialogue partners, and holds regular meetings with groupings within these 10 partners such as the “ASEAN +3” annual meeting that involves ASEAN plus Japan, South Korea and China.

ASEAN Regional Forum

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is a forum through which ASEAN engages with non-ASEAN states on political and security matters. It was formed in 1992 by way of the Singapore Declaration at the ASEAN Summit. The ARF consists of the 10 ASEAN Member States, the 12 ASEAN Dialogue Partners and one ASEAN Observer Country.

The ARF countries interact on a formal basis (Track I) through annual meetings and on an informal basis (Track II) through non-official seminars and workshops.

For more information on ASEAN External Relations, click here.