Vietnam's entry to ASEAN in 1995 spurred efforts toward expanding membership to the Association to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. In 1997, as part of the final year of the Sasakawa Southeast Asia Cooperation Fund project "Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and the AFTA Process: Assistance Program for Training and Research," a conference was held in Bangkok on the theme of "Constructive Engagement" in Asia. Overall, the conference supported the view that proactive, constructive mediation and involvement by ASEAN even in certain domestic problems was essential to promoting stability and cooperation in the region. There remained, however, the difficult task of formulating practical strategies for resolving the internal problems currently troubling Myanmar and Cambodia.
This project was aimed at providing a forum for practical discussion on the idea of constructive engagement as it applies to Myanmar, which is grappling with the challenge of strengthening its ties with fellow ASEAN countries while also seeking solutions to its domestic problems. To that end, a conference entitled "Myanmar in ASEAN" was held in Yangon in October 1998. Although international circumstances at one point threatened to cause the postponement of the conference, it was eventually held over two days under the joint sponsorship of SPF, the Information and Resource Center of Singapore and the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies. In four panel discussions ― "The Future of Asia in the 21st Century and the Role of ASEAN," "Economic Stabilization in Asia and Economic Possibilities for the Future," "Institutional Development in ASEAN" and "Myanmar in ASEAN: Cooperation for Development" ― the 150 conference participants considered future prospects for the development of ASEAN as a whole, including Myanmar, and sought to identify effective ways in which other ASEAN member countries could provide cooperative assistance to Myanmar.
The currency crisis that swept Southeast Asia from July 1997 have prompted political as well as economic reforms in many ASEAN countries. Despite the obvious drawbacks, these shocks provided the impetus for a rethinking and strengthening of the ASEAN organization, and the Yangon conference reflected this renewed sense of ASEAN unity as member countries committed to working together to surmount their present problems and crises.
Even on such sensitive topics as Myanmar's human rights and democracy issues and the establishment of its constitution, the conference exceeded all expectations as a forum for constructive exchange of opinions, and was thus itself a concrete example of constructive engagement to assist Myanmar.