(VOVworld) - ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) about the grouping’s role and its strategic orientation on future regional structure opened in Hanoi on Friday. The event aimed to gather inputs for the upcoming ASEAN Ministers Meeting in Myanmar this August.

Delegates hailed the importance of ASEAN’s central role in its interaction with the world to ensure regional peace and stability ahead of the ASEAN Community’s debut next year. The senior officials expressed deep concern over recent developments in the East Sea and called for an early finalization of a Code of Conducts for Parties in the East Sea.