Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said on Sunday that the ASEAN member states' foreign ministers and delegates of external partners are expected to be "contributing to the maintenance and promotion of peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world".

He made the remarks when addressing the opening ceremony of the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) in Vientiane, capital of Laos.

"Many regions of the world are facing various traditional and non-traditional security challenges, such as territorial disputes, extremism and terrorism, natural disasters, climate change, irregular migration, refugee issues, human trafficking and others," he said.

The 49th AMM and related meetings are taking place "at a crucial juncture", when ASEAN focuses its efforts on implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and enhancing cooperation with external partners with ASEAN playing a central role, he said.

With the inception of ASEAN in 1967, the AMM constitutes an important mechanism to deliberate and follow up to the implementation of the agreements and decisions by ASEAN leaders on cooperation within ASEAN and between ASEAN and external parties, he said.

ASEAN has become a single market and production base with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.6 trillion, ranking as the 7th largest economy in the world.

ASEAN's GDP per capita had increased by 76 percent from $2,341 in 2007 to $4,135 in 2014, the prime minister noted.

"Southeast Asia is a diverse region. However, this diversity has not been an obstacle for countries in the region to come together as a regional grouping of ASEAN," he said.