ABSTRACT
The Southeast Asian region comprises ten countries, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It has a population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers, and a combined gross domestic product of US$737 billion (ASEAN 2004). The author has earlier discussed the status, prospects and research needs related to FRP reinforcement for the region (Tan 1997). It was postulated that “FRP applications may be expected to increase, especially in view of the good economic growth of the region and the need to upgrade structures either due to the affluence of society or damage caused by environmental or human factors”.
