Railway
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are the founding members of:
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Answer: Option D — ASEAN
Detailed Solution
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration, also called the Bangkok Declaration. The five founding members were Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Its secretariat is in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The aims of ASEAN are to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region, and to promote regional peace and stability. Its motto is "One Vision, One Identity, One Community".
ASEAN has expanded to cover almost all of South-east Asia:
- Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos and Myanmar (1997) and Cambodia (1999) joined after the founders.
- Timor-Leste was admitted as the 11th member in October 2025.
The ASEAN Charter (2008) gave the organisation a legal identity. The ASEAN Economic Community was established in 2015. ASEAN countries signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2020 with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. India took part in the negotiations but decided not to join RCEP in 2019.
India and ASEAN:
India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992, a full dialogue partner in 1995, a summit-level partner in 2002 and a strategic partner in 2012. Relations were upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2022.
India's "Look East Policy" (1991) was upgraded to the "Act East Policy" in 2014.
The ASEAN-India Free Trade Area in goods came into effect in 2010.
2022 was celebrated as the ASEAN-India Friendship Year.
Why not the other options?
- ✗SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) was founded in 1985 in Dhaka by seven South Asian countries.
- ✗APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) was founded in 1989; India is not a member.
- ✗BIMSTEC (1997) links countries around the Bay of Bengal, including India, Thailand and Myanmar.
Quick tip
Remember: ASEAN = 8 August 1967, Bangkok Declaration, 5 founders, secretariat Jakarta, Timor-Leste 11th member (2025); India = Act East Policy (2014), Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2022).
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Organisations & Headquarters — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Organisations & Headquarters, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers national and international organisations: the United Nations and its agencies, regional groups such as SAARC, ASEAN and BRICS, global bodies such as the WHO, ILO and UNESCO, and Indian institutions, with their headquarters, founding years, members and heads. Questions typically ask where an organisation is headquartered, when it was founded, or what its full form is. For example, UNESCO is headquartered in Paris and the WHO in Geneva. Membership and leadership change over time, so pair the static facts here with current affairs for recent changes such as new members or new heads. Practise the organisations and headquarters questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.