List Of Countries In Asia In Alphabetical Order

Recently, India has managed to attract foreign investments, liberalized FDI in key sectors like defense, real estate, railways, and insurance, and progressed towards energy efficiency. Afghanistan has one of the lowest growth rates of all South Asian countries, at less than 3%. Largely, this is due to pressing security risks and political tension after the suspension of the U.S.-Taliban peace negotiations. However, its agriculture sector continues to grow as favorable weather reverses the impacts of a drought in 2018, prompting economists to favor Afghanistan's GDP growth projections in the next few years.

The facility opened in the late 1950s, when the steppes of Central Asia were part of the Soviet Union. The world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched from Baikonur in 1957, and the first spacecraft to carry a person into orbit was launched in 1961. Today, the Baikonur Cosmodrome is in southern Kazakhstan, although it is leased to and maintained by Russia. The state-of-the-art facility allows for the launch of both manned and unmanned spacecraft, and is vital to the support and maintenance of the International Space Station . A surge of economic investment, primarily funded by the oil, technology, and pharmaceutical industries, has fueled the development of medium-sized cities into important metropolitan areas.

Over the years, China has also increased its port and logistics construction in Sri Lanka. While once thought that the tourism industry would continue to scale up in Sri Lanka, terror bombings in April of 2019 have deterred guests from visiting the small island country. In this situation, the countries of Southeast Asia have the common concern that their region might be seriously affected by the Sino-Soviet confrontation and changes in the power relationships among the major countries. Laborite administrations were inaugurated in Australia and New Zealand toward the end of 1972, and the two countries adopted new diplomatic policies, including the recognition of the People's Republic of China in December 1972. As a result, there were indications that the character of the military arrangements mainly intended for Southeast Asia, such as SEATO and the five-nation defense arrangement of which both Australia and New Zealand are members, might change.

South Asia

The mountainous north of Nepal ha eight of the world’s ten tallest mountains, including the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest. For in-depth treatment of Asia’s major geographic features, see specific articles by name—e.g., Pamirs, Gobi, and Tigris and Euphrates rivers. For discussion of individual countries of the continent, see specific articles by name—e.g., Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India, and Thailand. For discussion of major cities of the continent, see specific articles by name—e.g., Bangkok, Jerusalem, Beijing, and Seoul.

ADB supports projects in developing member countries that create economic and development impact, delivered through both public and private sector operations, advisory services, and knowledge support. Prior to the proposal, Burma issued a Government statement on the Vietnam cease-fire showing that it was not necessarily negative toward regional cooperation in Southeast Asia, and this was carefully noted. The Vietnam cease-fire, in particular, is considered as harboring the great possibility of upsetting the balance among the great powers in Southeast Asia, thereby exerting an influence on the domestic affairs and diplomacy of the countries in that region. In the southeast of Asia there is the Malay Archipelago, a widely ramified island world that consists of many countries and reaches as far as Australia. Along the Pacific firing from Japan over the Philippines to Indonesia thousands of islands have a volcanic origin.

Asian Alliances And Trade Agreements

India is the largest country of South Asia and the seventh-largest country in the world by area. Because of the vastness of the country and variety of culture within different states, there is no national language in India. However, Hindi is the official language of the government and is spoken by the majority of people. English also has the status of official language in the country and is used extensively in higher education, business and education.

The first known script as Eveyla akuru script, which is found in historical recording of kings. The script used at present is called Thaana, which is said to be introduced during the reign of Mohamed Thakurufaanu and is written from right to left. Asia is the birthplace of all the world’s major religions—Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism—and of many minor ones. Of those, only Christianity developed primarily outside of Asia; it exerts little influence on the continent, though many Asian countries have Christian minorities. Buddhism has had a greater impact outside its birthplace in India and is prevalent in various forms in China, South Korea, Japan, the Southeast Asian countries, and Sri Lanka.

Due to its connections with China, Macau is not always considered a fully fledged country. Macau squeezes a population of roughly 682,800 into a tiny total area of 33 km2 . Geographically speaking, Asia is the world's largest continent by a wide margin.

At the 39th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting from July, the ministers issued a joint communiqué in which they voiced their concern over recent developments in North Korea—including the test firing of its Taepodong-2 missiles on 5 July—that could affect peace and security in the region. They emphasized the need for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and called upon concerned parties to utilize the upcoming ASEAN Regional Forum as an opportunity to resume the Six-Party Talks towards a peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue. Meetings of ASEAN members at various levels, including the fifth ASEAN ministerial conference in April, were held in 1972. In February 1973, the ASEAN nations held an extraordinary meeting of their foreign ministers in the wake of the Vietnam cease-fire.

On 15 November, Thailand deposited its instrument of ratification of the Third Protocol Amending the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia . Maintaining peace, stability, maritime security and safety and peaceful settlements of disputes on the basis of international laws. The 46th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting took place from 27 June-2 July in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Brunei Darussalum, chaired the meeting. At the meeting, parties adopted the Plan of Action to Strengthen the Implementation of the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free-Zone, which continued to encourage compliance with the SEANFWZ Treaty and cooperation with the IAEA. The Joint Communique released by the AMM also expressed support for the SEANWFZ Treaty and encouraged transparency in the interests of nuclear safety.

Political Cooperation

The ASEAN Regional Forum is an important multilateral forum for political and security consultations and cooperation. The ARF has begun to explore activities where there is overlap between confidence-building measures and preventive diplomacy. ASEAN Member States are urged to settle disputes through friendly negotiations applying the procedures of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation of 1976. However, the Member States are not obliged to use the Treaty stipulations for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

The summit saw the establishment of an Eminent Persons Group on the ASEAN Charter—comprising 10 highly distinguished and well respected citizens from ASEAN Member Countries—to examine and provide recommendations on the direction of ASEAN and the nature of the Charter. Leaders welcomed the 4th and 5th rounds of the Six-Party Talks held in July and November in Beijing, and called on all concerned parties to exert their utmost effort toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They strongly condemned terrorism and reiterated the need to intensify their efforts to eliminate the root causes of terrorism at the bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels.

Asia makes up the eastern portion of the Eurasian supercontinent; Europe occupies the western portion. However, most geographers define Asia’s western border as an indirect line that follows the Ural Mountains, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Caspian and Black seas. The ASEAN leaders and Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India held talks on the issue of terrorism and agreed to enhance cooperation in fighting terrorism.

The principal treatment of Asian historical and cultural development is contained in the articles on Asian countries, regions, and cities and in the articles Palestine, history of and Islamic world. Related topics are discussed in articles on religion (e.g., Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam) and arts and literature (e.g., Chinese literature, Japanese literature, Central Asian arts, Southeast Asian arts, and South Asian arts). The mountain systems of Central Asia not only have provided the continent’s great rivers with water from their melting snows but also have formed a forbidding natural barrier that has influenced the movement of peoples in the area. Migration across those barriers has been possible only through mountain passes.