(9 Jul 2012) Foreign ministers from ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attended the plenary session of the meeting on Monday.
The 45th regional meeting of the ASEAN and the wider ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), started earlier on Monday.
This year's meeting is chaired by Cambodia and held in the capital Phnom Penh.
The South China Sea territorial dispute and the draft of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration are the main topics expected to be discussed in the meeting.
The Human rights declaration will be one of the most important documents drafted since the adoption of the ASEAN charter in 2007.
However, the drafting process has been criticised by human rights organisations for its lack of public participation.
The wider Asian Regional Forum is scheduled to be held later in the week.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations was founded in 1967 by Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand as a trade bloc which later evolved into a political, cultural, and economic club.
Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia joined between 1984 and 1999.
The Asia Regional Forum (ARF) includes Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, South Korea and the USA.
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