The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

1. Regional Blocks
International Business

2. Prepared By
Manu Melwin Joy
Assistant Professor
Ilahia School of Management Studies
Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
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3. ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations

4. Introduction
• The Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, or
ASEAN, was established on
8 August 1967 in Bangkok,
Thailand, with the signing
of the ASEAN
Declaration (Bangkok
Declaration) by the
Founding Fathers of
ASEAN, namely Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand.

5. Introduction

7. AIMS AND PURPOSES
• To accelerate the economic growth, social
progress and cultural development in the
region through joint endeavours in the spirit
of equality and partnership in order to
strengthen the foundation for a prosperous
and peaceful community of Southeast Asian
Nations.
• To promote regional peace and stability
through abiding respect for justice and the
rule of law in the relationship among
countries of the region and adherence to the
principles of the United Nations Charter.
• To promote active collaboration and mutual
assistance on matters of common interest in
the economic, social, cultural, technical,
scientific and administrative fields.
• To provide assistance to each other in the
form of training and research facilities in the
educational, professional, technical and
administrative spheres.

8. AIMS AND PURPOSES
• To collaborate more effectively for the
greater utilisation of their agriculture
and industries, the expansion of their
trade, including the study of the
problems of international commodity
trade, the improvement of their
transportation and communications
facilities and the raising of the living
standards of their peoples;
• To promote Southeast Asian studies.
• To maintain close and beneficial
cooperation with existing international
and regional organisations with similar
aims and purposes, and explore all
avenues for even closer cooperation
among themselves.

9. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
• Mutual respect for the independence,
sovereignty, equality, territorial
integrity, and national identity of all
nations.
• The right of every State to lead its
national existence free from external
interference, subversion or coercion.
• Non-interference in the internal affairs
of one another
• Settlement of differences or disputes by
peaceful manner.
• Renunciation of the threat or use of
force.
• Effective cooperation among
themselves.

10. EU
European Union

11. Introduction
• The EU is a unique
economic and political
partnership between 28
European countries that
together cover much of
the continent.

14. Introduction
• The EU was created in the
aftermath of the Second
World War. The first steps
were to foster economic
cooperation: the idea
being that countries who
trade with one another
become economically
interdependent and so
more likely to avoid
conflict.

15. Introduction
• The result was the European
Economic Community (EEC),
created in 1958, and initially
increasing economic
cooperation between six
countries: Belgium, Germany,
France, Italy, Luxembourg
and the Netherlands. Since
then, a huge single market
has been created and
continues to develop towards
its full potential.

16. EU Institutions

17. Functions
• The overall function of the
European Union is to create and
implement laws and regulations
that integrate the member
states of the EU. The countries
of the EU are supposed to have
uniform laws and policies
concerning a variety of things
(like immigration, labor, weights
and measures -- all sorts of
things). The function of the EU
government is to decide how
this integration should be done
and to carry it out.

18. Functions
• For example, 16 members of the
EU use the Euro as their
Currency. One of the functions of
a part of the EU government was
to devise the currency -- to decide
what it would be called, what it
would look like, etc. Another part
of the EU government tries to get
countries using the Euro to enact
fiscal policies that will keep the
Euro stable. They try, in other
words, to prevent fiascos like
what happened in Greece this
past year and they try to remedy
them if they happen.

21. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

22. Introduction
• The South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is
an economic and geopolitical
union of eight member
nations that are primarily located
in South asia contingent. Its
secretariat is headquartered in
Kathmandu, Nepal.

24. Introduction
• The idea of regional
political and economic
cooperation in south
asia was first coined in
1980 and the first summit
held in Dhaka on 8
December in 1985 led to
its official establishment
by the governments of
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan
and Srilanka.

25. Objectives
• To promote the welfare of the people
of South Asia and to improve their
quality of life.
• To accelerate economic growth, social
progress and cultural development in
the region and to provide all
individuals the opportunity to live in
dignity and to realise their full
potential.
• To promote and strengthen selective
self-reliance among the countries of
South Asia.
• To contribute to mutual trust,
understanding and appreciation of one
another's problems.

26. Objectives
• To promote active collaboration
and mutual assistance in the
economic, social, cultural,
technical and scientific fields.
• To strengthen co-operation with
other developing countries.
• To strengthen co-operation among
themselves in international forums
on matters of common interest.
• To co-operate with international
and regional organisations with
similar aims and purposes.
• To maintain peace in the region.

27. Members

28. Apex and Recognized Bodies
• SAARC has six Apex Bodies namely,
– SCCI - SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry
– SAARCLAW - South Asian Association For Regional
Cooperation In Law
– SAFA - South Asian Federation of Accountants
– SAF - South Asia Foundation
– SAIEVAC - South Asia Initiative to End Violence
Against Children
– FOSWAL - Foundation of SAARC Writers and
Literature.

29. SAARC summits

30. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

31. Introduction
• OPEC (Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting
Countries) is an oil cartel
whose mission is to
coordinate the policies of the
oil-producing countries. The
goal is to secure a steady
income to the member states
and to secure supply of oil to
the consumers.

34. History
• OPEC was formed at a time when
the international oil market was
largely separate from centrally
planned economies, and was
dominated by multinational
companies. OPEC's ‘Policy
Statement' states that there is a
right of all countries to exercise
sovereignty over their natural
resources. Because OPEC is an
organisation of countries (not oil
companies), individual members
have sovereign immunity for their
actions, meaning that OPEC is not
regarded as being subject to
"Antitrust" or Competition Law in
the normal way.

35. Growth
• In the 1970s, OPEC began
to gain influence and
steeply raised oil prices
during the 1973 oil crisis in
response to US aid to Israel
during the Yom Kippur
War. It lasted until March
1974. OPEC added to its
goals the selling of oil for
socio-economic growth of
the poorer member
nations, and membership
grew to 13 by 1975.

36. Growth
• In the 1980s, the price of oil was
allowed to rise before the adverse
effects of higher prices caused
demand and price to fall. The
OPEC nations, which depended on
revenue from oil sales,
experienced severe economic
hardship from the lower demand
for oil and consequently cut
production in order to boost the
price of oil. During this time,
environmental issues began to
emerge on the international
energy agenda. Lower demand for
oil saw the price of oil fall back to
1986 levels by 1998–99.

37. Growth
• In the 2000s, a combination of
factors pushed up oil prices
even as supply remained high.
Prices rose to then record-high
levels in mid-2008 before falling
in response to the 2007
financial crisis . OPEC's summits
in Caracas and Riyadh in 2000
and 2007 had guiding themes of
stable energy markets,
sustainable oil production, and
environmental sustainability.

38. Objectives
• OPEC's objective is to co-ordinate
and unify
petroleum policies among
Member Countries, in order
to secure fair and stable
prices for petroleum
producers; an efficient,
economic and regular supply
of petroleum to consuming
nations; and a fair return on
capital to those investing in
the industry.

39. North American Free Trade Agreement

40. History
• In 1994, the North American
Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), a state-of-the-art
market-opening agreement,
came into force. Since then,
NAFTA has systematically
eliminated most tariff and
non-tariff barriers to trade and
investment between Canada,
the United States, and Mexico.

41. Chronology of Events
• June 10, 1990: Canada, the U.S.,
and Mexico agree to pursue a
free trade agreement
• February 5, 1991: NAFTA
negotiations begin.
• December 17, 1992: NAFTA is
signed by leaders from Canada,
the U.S., and Mexico.
• August 1993: Additional side
agreements on labor and the
environment are negotiated.
• January 1, 1994: NAFTA enters
into force

42. History
• Negotiations toward a free
trade agreement between
the United States and
Canada began in 1985.
Sixteen months later, the
two nations came together
and agreed to the Canada-
U.S. Free Trade Agreement
(FTA). It was a historic
agreement that placed
Canada and the United
States at the forefront of
trade liberalization.

43. Key elements of the Agreement
• Key elements of the Agreement
included the elimination of tariffs
and the reduction of many non-tariff
barriers to trade. The FTA
was also among the first trade
agreements to address trade in
services. It also included a dispute
settlement mechanism for the
fair and expeditious resolution of
trade disagreements, and
established a ground-breaking
system for the binational review
of trade remedy determinations,
thereby providing an alternative
to domestic judicial review.

44. Example
• In practical terms, Canada
and the United States agreed
to remove bilateral border
measures on traded goods,
which included the removal
of tariffs on goods such as
meat products, fruits and
vegetables, beverages,
processed foods, live
animals, wine, clothing and
textiles, fuels, electrical
goods and machinery.