Ministers from the 10 ASEAN countries have been meeting in Laos -- the first major meeting since ASEAN declared itself a 'community' at the end of last year. Host Laos has laid out the priorities that the countries must work on if they are to make that vision of an integrated community a reality. The ministers also, inevitably, tackled thorny regional issues such as the South China Sea, and transnational terror threats.

Participants pose for group photos during the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, July 24, 2016. The 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting kicked off here on Sunday. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun)

At the opening ceremony, Laos laid out the theme of its chairmanship: to help turn the vision of ASEAN as a dynamic community into a reality. But despite the ASEAN Economic Community formally coming into effect at the beginning of the year, many challenges remain.

"Narrowing the development gap, trade facilitation, small and medium enterprise development, tourism development, connectivity, transition from informal employment toward decent work promotion in ASEAN," Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said.

Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith addresses the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, July 24, 2016. The 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting kicked off here on Sunday. (Xinhua/Liu Yun)

Laos’s foreign minister and prime minister avoided any direct mention of the South China Sea territorial disputes, which involve four ASEAN member countries.

"The Lao People’s Democratic Republic, as chair of ASEAN, will continue its commitment to building a strong and developed ASEAN community and maintain stability," Sisoulith said.

But coming so soon after the so-called arbitration ruling on the South China Sea, the issue was always going to be high on the agenda.

Other challenges discussed included terrorism, human trafficking, refugees and developments in the Middle East and Korean Peninsula.

While the ASEAN ministers can take a common stand on combating threats posed by violent extremist groups like the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas from the Southern Philippines and the Islamic State militant group or ISIL, they continue to struggle to reach any kind of consensus on the South China Sea issue.

Instead, host Laos said that the meetings in the days ahead involving China, the US and others, will be a chance for the major powers to engage one another and build trust…to help ensure peace and stability in the region and the world as a whole.