Approach to Development Gaps in ASEAN: a Vietnamese Perspective (Association of Southeast Asian Nations‪)‬

I. Introduction ASEAN, the regional association, is facing a paradox as it is turning itself into an ASEAN Community. The deeper its members integrate, the development gaps among them appear to widen. Development gaps always exist, but not all the gaps are impediments to integration among nations. The challenge for ASEAN's integration is that the increasingly globalized world and current community-building process of ASEAN could turn the region into "the included" and "the non-included", unless ASEAN can find appropriate approaches to bridge crucial development gaps among its members.