UNESCO has announced that the Documents establishing the ASEAN Community (The Birth of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) (Archives about the Formation ASEAN, 1967 – 1976) have been registered as “Memory of the World” for the year 2025. Thailand, together with Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, have jointly proposed the Documents to be registered.

The archives record the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) by its five founding member states: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The archives describe ASEAN’s foundational mission to turn neighbours into cordial friends and build mutual trust where there were once trust deficits. Furthermore, the archives provide evidence that newly independent and relatively small countries could play a role in shaping more peaceful and stable international politics. The archives also serve as a reference for ASEAN’s diplomacy, which later became known as the “ASEAN Way”.

The archives include the 1967 ASEAN Declaration and related records, comprising 16 text files, one photo, one film, three audio files and 12 oral history interview recordings, which are currently kept at the Thai Film Archive (Public Organization).