ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
✓the twenty-seven-member multilateral grouping was developed to facilitate cooperation on political and security issues to contribute to regional confidence-building and preventive diplomacy.
✓First meeting Held at Bangkok, Thailand, in 1994.
✓It includes ASEAN and 10 dialogue partners i.e Australia, Canada, China, the European
Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, New Zealand, and the United States. Also included are the Papua New Guinea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan,Timor-Leste, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
✓Unique among international organizations of its type, the ARF is characterized by minimal institutionalization, decision making by consensus, and the use of both “first track” (official) and “second track” (nonofficial) diplomacy.
