In today complex, challenging world it has become clear that the fate of developing economies depends greatly on how they succeed in cooperating regionally and leveraging their combined strengths globally to seize new opportunities. That is precisely the path on which five Southeast Asian nations set out 50 years ago when they established the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), beginning a multi-stage journey towards the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 as one of the key pillars of what has become the ASEAN Community.