It was established as the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP) in September 1999 by Sheikh Hasina, acquiring its current name in 2006 during the Seventh Session of the AAPP.

Each Member Parliament has a specific number of seats in the Assembly based on the size of their population.

The APA differed from its predecessor through a focus on broadening areas of cooperation toward regional integration with the long term perspective to eventually reach the status of an Asian common legislative mechanism.

[clarification needed] A 2017 standing committee meeting was held in Bhutan.

[3] The 10th plenary session, in November 2017 in Istanbul, was on the topic of "Sustaining Peace and Development in Asia".