The wave of economic regionalism underway since the mid-late 1980s has been joined by the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which formed the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in January 1993 with the aim of creating a Free Trade Area in the region by the (revised) target date of 2003. This is a particularly significant event as it marks a qualitative change in direction both for the members of ASEAN and for the East/Southeast Asian region, a region where formal regional trading agreements met with less enthusiasm than in other areas of the world during previous waves of regionalism.  Author: Bowles, Paul.  Publication: Pacific Affairs, Jun 22, 1997.