The "Declaration of Asean Concord II" will reinforce the three elements of cooperation included in the first document adopted at the grouping's maiden summit in Bali in 1976.

At the same Indonesian resort, the leaders of the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will sign the new blueprint, popularly known as Bali Concord II, in a fresh bid to accelerate regional identity building, officials say.

The new charter refers to an Asean community with "three pillars": the Asean Economic Community, the Asean Security Community and the Asean Social Cultural Community.

"These will be the legs that the Asean community will stand on and move in the coming years," said Sundram Pushpanathan, Asean's head of external relations.

But he stressed that the Asean community would not be inward looking or erect barriers to trade and investment.

"The Bali Concord II will underline that the Asean community will not be a 'Fortress Asean' and that Asean will work to engage its dialogue partners and others actively, and pursue economic linkages in keeping with its outward looking orientation," he said.

Asean spokesman M.C. Abad said the Bali Concord II embodies the new generation of Asean leaders and ideas responding to the new realities, opportunities and challenges facing Asean today.

The grouping was founded in 1967 as an inter-governmental organization, not a community of regional states.

"For the first time, the concept of an Asean community will become part of the Asean lexicon," Abad said. "So it is a paradigm shift and this will accelerate regional integration and identity building among the peoples of Southeast Asia."

Analysts say the move comes at a critical period for the region facing competition and economic difficulties and fighting an uphill battle against terrorism.

Once the world's largest economic growth area, Southeast Asia is still struggling to emerge from a financial crisis that devastated the region in 1997/98. Investments to the region have also slowed.

"Asean knows that it is stalled," said Carolina Hernandez, chairman of the Philippine Institute for Strategic and Development Studies.

So, Indonesia, the largest Southeast Asian nation and host to the upcoming ninth Asean summit, wants to reassert its leadership and revitalise Asean, she said.

"Indonesia wants to lead this initiative of an Asean community so that this will move Asean once again. But we have to find out how the three legs will fit together," Hernandez said.

The Asean Security Community is a comprehensive framework for political and security cooperation, including providing mechanisms to resolve conflicts among member states and giving more emphasis to "non traditional security issues," like terrorism.

"It is not a military bloc or a political union in the making," said Pushpanathan.

Under the Asean Economic Community concept, the group comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam aims to achieve a single market of 530 million people in 17 years.