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July 23, 1997

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Danissalam, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

HAVING CONSIDERED the communication of the Lao People's Democratic Republic expressing its desire to become a member state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ("ASEAN");

HAVING REGARD to the ASEAN Declaration of S August 1967. which established ASEAN, wherein it was declared that the Association is open for participation to all States in the Southeast Asian region subscribing to the aims, principles and purposes of ASEAN;

HAVING REGARD also to the Declaration of ASEAN Concord;

NOTING the Lao People's Democratic Republic's accession to the .Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia on 29 June 1992;

NOTING ALSO that the Lao People's Democratic Republic has agreed to subscribe or accede, as the case may be, to all ASEAN Declarations, Treaties and Agreements, including ASEAN Agreements with Dialogue Partners. Sectoral Dialogue Partners and Consultative Partners, the Framework Agreement on Enhancing ASEAN Economic Cooperation and the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA);

NOTING FURTHER that the Lao People's Democratic Republic will, from the date of its membership in ASEAN, extend on a reciprocal basis Most Favoured Nation Treatment to ASEAN Member States; National Treatment on products of the territory of any ASEAN Member State imported into the territory of the Lao People's Democratic Republic vis-a-vis like products of national origin in respect of all laws, regulations and requirements (including sales tax, exchange rate determination and foreign exchange control) affecting their internal sale, offering for sale, purchase, transportation, distribution or use; and ensure transparency in its trade regime on goods and services by keeping ASEAN Member States informed of all its laws-, regulations and requirements and subsequent changes thereto which affect its trade in goods and services with ASEAN Member States; and

HAVING REGARD to the unanimous expression by ASEAN Member States of their agreement to admit the Lao People's Democratic Republic into ASEAN;

and,

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, representing the Lao People's Democratic Republic,

HAVING SOLEMNLY ACCEPTED the conditions of membership;

NOW THEREFORE, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao People's Democratic Republic do hereby agree and declare as follows ;

1. The Lao People's Democratic Republic shall be a member state of ASEAN from the date of this Declaration;

2. The Lao People's Democratic Republic, pursuant to its solemn agreement to do so, shall subscribe or accede, as the case may be, to all Declarations, Treaties and Agreements of ASEAN.

This Declaration on the Admission of the Lao People's Democratic Republic into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of ASEAN.

DONE at Subang Jaya, Malaysia, on the Twenty-Third day of July in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-Seven.