Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (7th L) joins hands with foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a group picture taken during the opening ceremony of the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Singapore on July 21, 2008.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    SINGAPORE, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began an annual meeting here Monday morning, discussing Thailand-Cambodia border dispute, assessment of Myanmar Cyclone Nargis disaster, the ASEAN Charter and regional security.

    Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM), Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, as current chair of ASEAN, said that two events during Singapore's chairmanship stood out, one was ASEAN's response after Cyclone Nargis struck Southern Myanmar in May and the other was the signing of the ASEAN Charter last November.

    He described ASEAN's response to Myanmar's cyclone as the crisis which "tested ASEAN's unity", saying "it forced us to consider what ASEAN meant to Myanmar, and in turn what Myanmar meant to the group."

    Myanmar only allowed its ASEAN counterparts to lead the humanitarian assistance three weeks after the cyclone hit southern Myanmar in early May.

    "While many difficulties still lie ahead, ASEAN played an important role in bridging the gap of trust between the Myanmar government and international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank," Lee said, adding that, "ASEAN facilitated the flow of emergency aid to the disaster victims...The situation is clearly better than if ASEAN had not intervened to persuade Myanmar to cooperate with the international community."

    The 10-member bloc's foreign ministers will release the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment Report later Monday.

    On the ASEAN Charter, the 41-year-old group's first legally binding document designed to help it become a single trading bloc, the prime minister said, the grouping has decided to press on with the Charter's implementation without waiting for all ten members to ratify.

    "The pace of ASEAN integration should not be set by its slowest members, or else all will be held back by the problems of a few," he said.

    Seven ASEAN countries have thus far ratified the Charter exceptThailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. The charter is expected to be ratified by ASEAN's end-of-year summit in Bangkok.

    At the opening ceremony, Lee also announced the establishment of an ASEAN Studies Center within a think tank - the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) - in Singapore.

    "The Center will work closely with the ASEAN Secretariat to undertake policy research on ASEAN. It will look at measures to help the organization grow new capabilities, strengthen its institutions, and enhance cooperation among its members," Lee said.

    Beyond the political, security and economic concerns, the Southeast grouping's peoples need to internalize a sense of ASEAN citizenship for the ASEAN Community to be built, said Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo in his welcoming remarks.

    During the three-day meeting, the ASEAN foreign ministers will meet separately with foreign ministers and representatives from ASEAN dialogue partners, which comprise Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, the European Union, New Zealand, Russia and the United States. They are expected to explore ways tofurther intensify cooperation and discuss the regional security.

    Founded in 1967, the ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Singapore will hand over the chairmanship ofASEAN to Thailand after the series of meetings.