ASEAN community is the significant changing of Thailand both national and international level. These changes have affected ways of life, economic system, socio-cultural community, and cooperation between the state actors and non-state actors like civil society organization and private sectors. The Department of Local Administration has seen the important of these issues can shape our local society, and then we have created the information center on ASEAN for Thai bureaucracy and other mechanisms to use the database making contributions.
Before ASEAN, the countries of Southeast Asia had tried to establish a number of regional organizations to promote regional integration. These included, among others, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) in 1954, the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) in 1961 and MAPHILINDO, a group comprising Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia in 1963. All of them set out to strengthen relations between countries in the region and to promote cooperation in areas such as economics, science and culture.
In the beginning, Thailand joined Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore in establishing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), signing the Bangkok Declaration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand on 8 August 1967, at Laem Thaen, known as the “Spirit of Bangsaen”. ASEAN was conceived with an aim to promote peace and accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavors in a spirit of equality and partnership. It evolved to become a main driving force for the region and later on expanded to include every country within the region. Brunei Darussalam then joined on 7 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.
The peace and stability that the Southeast Asian countries have been enjoying today to a large extent, largely due to ASEAN's role as a forum that promotes and fosters tru