The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be given legal personality, according to the ASEAN Charter signed in Singapore today.

The Charter was signed by the bloc's 10 leaders in Shangri-La Hotel in the downtown of Singapore.

In order to be more ready to face challenges, ASEAN needs a legal foundation and institutional framework for building up the regional integration, the Charter says.

"ASEAN, as an inter-governmental organization, is hereby conferred legal personality," says the Charter.

In 2004, ASEAN proposed to introduce a Charter for the bloc, hoping to realize its long-term goal of becoming a closely integrated regional entity through the implementation of the Charter.

Founded in August 1967, ASEAN has helped lift up the status of southeastern Asian countries as a whole in the international arena.

As a regional cooperation group, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.