Although ASEAN was founded primarily for political and security purposes, the ASEAN Declaration of 8 August 1967 placed “Economic growth, social progress and cultural development” at the top of the new association's seven “aims and purposes”, which also included:

1. • “Economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative collaboration;

2. • “Mutual assistance in training and research;

3. • “Collaboration in agriculture and industry, trade, transportation and communications, and the improvement of living standards.”

There were three reasons for this public emphasis on the economic dimension of the new association. One was to dispel any notion that ASEAN would be some kind of defence arrangement, as Beijing and Moscow would charge and as Hanoi suspected. Another was publicly to underscore the member-states' strong commitment to economic development. The third was to persuade Southeast Asia's people that the improvement of their lives was uppermost in their governments' minds.

True to their word, the year after ASEAN's founding, the ASEAN foreign ministers agreed to set up permanent committees on food, civil aviation, communications, air traffic services and meteorology, and shipping. These were areas that clearly called for and required regional cooperation. The next year, 1969, the foreign ministers created more permanent committees, those on finance, commerce and industry, tourism, and transportation and communications. They also approved no less than 99 project recommendations pertaining to commerce and industry, tourism, shipping, civil aviation, air traffic services and meteorology, transportation and communications, finance and food, as well as mass media and cultural activities. By the fourth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, in 1971, the recommended projects had increased to 121. The ministers signed a multilateral agreement on non-scheduled air services. The next year, the number of projects had grown to 215, of which 48 were reported to have been implemented. At this time, a United Nations team had completed its study on ASEAN economic cooperation.