The large part ASEAN’s thirty-eighth year was focused on tackling the ‘big’ ideas of community building. Guided by the Vientiane Action Programme, or VAP, ASEAN made headway on institutional strengthening, regional economic integration, and entrenching broader and deeper intra-ASEAN cooperation. Concurrent with these developments, ASEAN continued to build its external partnerships and secured a prominent role for itself in the evolving strategic architecture of East Asia.