ASEAN Observatory

At the same time as the creation of ASEAN in Bangkok on 8 August 1967, a number of young Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian law and political science lecturers, who had been doctoral students in London, Paris, Bordeaux, Antwerp and The Hague, founded an “amicale” with the aim of promoting a better mutual understanding of the cultures of ASEAN and the European Union, and developing academic exchanges.

They received the support of several founding fathers of ASEAN, including Thanat KHOMAN, Adam MALIK and Narcisos RAMOS, to whom they had the opportunity to present their project.

In 1982, the association was given official statutes, a head office in Bangkok and an executive committee, chaired successively by Pr. Mariano LIN (1982-1992), Dr Pathom WONGSURAWAT (1992-1997) and Dr Thanat KHOMAN (1997-2016).

In the 80s and 90s, the association, with private funding (mainly from its founders and members’ contributions), discreetly funded the research and studies of around fifteen Asian students and young researchers in Europe every year, with a particular focus on students from the less prosperous ASEAN countries.

After a transition period from 2017 to 2020, the association, which has now become the ‘ASEAN Political and Geo-economic Observatory’, has extended its missions and entrusted their implementation from Bangkok to the direction of Dr. Raphaël VONGSURAVATANA.

• To promote reciprocal knowledge of the cultures of ASEAN and the European Union.
• To raise awareness of contemporary democratic, social and ecological issues among decision-makers, particularly young leaders.
• To encourage research and, in particular, to promote political, geopolitical and geo-economic research on ASEAN countries among young researchers.
• To help finance academic work and facilitate academic cooperation between higher education institutions in ASEAN and the European Union.