The ASEAN meetings will be attended by twenty-seven countries. The meetings will be held from July 29 to August 2, 2007 with the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) as the venue. The confirmation was announced yesterday by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The 27 countries will be represented at the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM), the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMCs) and the 14th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). The foreign ministers are to discuss the status of ASEAN’s community-building efforts and assess the progress of the implementation of the three pillars of ASEAN on security community, economic community and socio-cultural community.

As the current ASEAN chairman, the Philippines will lead discussions on the measures to follow up the directives that the ASEAN leaders firmed up at the Cebu Summit. Luis Cruz, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for ASEAN Affairs, revealed that during the AMM, the foreign ministers will adopt measures that will implement the landmark decisions of the 12th ASEAN, the 2nd East Asia Summit and other related summits that were held under the chairmanship of President Arroyo in Cebu last January.

The 10 ASEAN members are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The PMCs are annual meetings between ASEAN foreign ministers and their counterparts from 10 dialogue partners like China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, Russia, Canada, the United States and the European Union.