; Whereas ASEAN is home to critical global sea lanes located at the center of the world’s strongest economic growth area, with $5,300,000,000,000 of global trade and more than half of total shipped tonnage transiting through ASEAN’s waters each year; Whereas ASEAN, taken collectively, is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia after China and India, expanding by 66 percent since 2006 and exceeding the global growth average for the past ten years; Whereas the ASEAN Economic Community aims to create one of the largest single market economies in the world, facilitating the free movement of goods, services, and professionals and engendering a sense of economic community among its member states; Whereas the United States is the largest investor in Southeast Asia, with total foreign direct investment stock of nearly $273,500,000,000 in 2014, creating millions of jobs in the United States and in ASEAN member states, while investment in the United States from Southeast Asia has increased more than any other region’s investment in the past decade; Whereas the United States has helped ASEAN create a Single Window customs facilitation system that will aid in expediting intra-ASEAN trade and make it easier for United States businesses to operate in the region; Whereas the United States-ASEAN Business Alliance for Competitive Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) has already trained more than 4,600 small to medium enterprises, with nearly half of the individuals trained being young women entrepreneurs; Whereas United States-ASEAN development cooperation has focused on innovation and capacity-building efforts in technology, education, disaster management, food security, human rights, and trade facilitation; Whereas the Lower Mekong Initiative, established on July 23, 2009, is a multinational effort that helps promote sustainable economic development in mainland Southeast Asia to foster integrated, multisectoral, subregional cooperation and capacity building