 Summits with ASEAN for both countries were first held in 1977.It has been suggested that the final membership of the EAS represents an "anti-region", supplied in order to prevent the emergence of a regional community in Asian East Asia, rather than a region.Australia and New Zealand as the two Closer Economic Relations (CER) countries have also developed close ties with ASEAN and have been negotiating a CER-ASEAN free trade agreement since 2004 .