Implemented for three years from FY 1995, this project provided support for Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar in their efforts to become members of ASEAN. Specifically, the project aimed at fostering those countries' capacities to act effectively once they joined ASEAN by enabling their government officials to deepen their knowledge of the ASEAN Free Trade Area scheme and apply it effectively in ASEAN-related affairs.
Vietnam, which succeeded in joining ASEAN in 1995, was the focus of the first year of the project, with training seminars on AFTA being conducted by ASEAN specialists in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In FY 1996, the scope of the project expanded to include Cambodia and Laos, and AFTA seminars were held in Hanoi, Danang, Pnom Penh and Vientiane. At the seminars, the participants deepened their understanding of regional economic cooperation and trade systems through discussions which covered not only AFTA but also ASEAN itself, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference and the World Trade Organization.
In FY 1997, the project further broadened to include Myanmar, and in May an AFTA training seminar was held in Yangon. Furthermore, based on a training manual developed by specialists from Malaysia, seminars on customs operations were held in Myanmar and Laos to give participants a more detailed understanding of the functions of AFTA and its implementation process. In August 1997, a final conference was held in Bangkok in collaboration with the Asia Institute Foundation of Thailand. The conference addressed the question of constructive involvement in these new ASEAN member countries, an increasingly topical issue in the region since the movement to include them in the bloc first began. The conference supported the position that, while ASEAN has so far adhered firmly to a policy of noninterference in each member country's domestic political affairs, it is necessary nonetheless to promote "constructive involvement" for the sake of peaceful coexistence and co-prosperity in the region.