AS THE current chairman of Asean, Singapore will host the 41st Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) from July 17 to 24 at the Shangri-La Hotel.

The annual meeting brings together foreign ministers of the 10 Asean members states, who also meet their counterparts from the 10 Asean dialogue partners.

The ministers are expected to discuss the status of Asean's community building efforts and assess the progress of the group's plans for security, economic and socio-cultural communities.

At the close of the AMM, Singapore will hand over the Asean chairmanship to Thailand.

These meetings will be followed by the 15th Asean Regional Forum (ARF), which is Asia's largest security grouping.

The meetings will draw together 27 countries that have a direct bearing on the security of the Asia-Pacific region.

The countries involved are:

- the 10 Asean member states: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

- the 10 Asean dialogue partners: Australia, Canada, China, the EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States

- Special Observer: Papua New Guinea

-Guest of the Asean chair: Timor Leste

- as well as North Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.