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ASEAN ▶
In 1967, Thailand, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Singapore, and the
Philippines founded the
Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Today, ten member nations
share the goals of peace
and economic growth.LATIN UNION ▼
Languages such as Italian, Spanish,
and French are derived from the
Latin of Ancient Rome. The Latin
Union was founded in 1954 to
preserve and promote the common
heritage of countries with Latin-
based languages, until 2012
when it was dissolved.◀ AFRICAN
UNION
In 2001, the African
Union was established
to reduce conflict and
poverty across Africa.
With its headquarters in
Ethiopia, the organization
has 55 member nations.LA FRANCOPHONIE ▲
About 220 million people
speak French worldwide.
To celebrate this, a group
of French-speaking nations
set up La Francophonie in
1970 to promote French
language and culture.CIS ▶
After the communist
Soviet Union collapsed
in 1991, leaders of the
new republics formed
the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS). Its
12 states coordinate foreign
and economic policy.EU ▲
The European Union (EU) was
created in 1993 to ensure that goods,
services, finance, and labour could move
freely between member nations.210_211_Alliances.indd 211 03/01/19 12:11 PM