Context
The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organisation (AIPO) was formed in 1977, ten years after the foundation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The idea of establishing an ASEAN Parliament was first initiated by the Philippines in 1980, and the member parliaments have been pursuing this goal ever since. On 17 April 2007, they agreed to form the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA). The aim of this assembly is to actively promote ASEAN’s objectives, namely to establish a Southeast Asian community of states based on the three pillars of the integration process: a Political and Security Community, an Economic Community, and a Socio-Cultural Community.
The dynamic nature of the integration process requires more intensive dialogue between AIPA member parliaments so they can keep pace with ongoing political developments. However, the integration process has so far been steered exclusively by the ASEAN member state governments. The parliaments themselves are only involved to a very limited extent in parliamentary control activities, and their input is largely confined to providing consultations on the fringes of ASEAN summits. As a consequence, most AIPA parliamentarians do not feel they are kept adequately informed of current developments in the integration process.
Objective
The member parliaments of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly are better equipped to exercise their policy-making and control functions as part of the ASEAN integration process.
