KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The 39th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) to be held in Kuala Lumpur later this month will discuss several key issues, including regional security, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Friday.

    The four-day event also will discuss efforts to strengthen ASEAN, including the ASEAN Charter which is being drafted by an expert group, Syed Hamid told local reporters in Malaysia's northern state of Terengganu.

    Meanwhile, the meeting will finds ways to strengthen the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to step up the implementation of decisions made by ASEAN countries, he said after attending a lecture on current affairs there.

    The AMM will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center on July 24-28. The 13th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) also would be taking place at that time. Twenty five countries plus the European Union, including the United States, Russia, New Zealand, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and South Korea, will attend the gathering.

    The forum will discuss the current issues, the security framework in southeast Asia, and other matters like how the ASEAN region can remain peaceful and safe, Syed Hamid said.

    It also will enable participants to touch on wider issues like the Korean Peninsula, Palestine, Iran's nuclear development programs, he said.

    In addition, the energy security issue was expected to receive attention at the gathering, he noted.

    Many countries had shown interest to take part in the forum and Bangladesh would be the latest country to be brought into the forum, he added.

    ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Enditem