ASEAN foreign ministers meet in Vietnam

The ten foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered Friday in Vietnam during an annual summit to discuss regional and international issues and to set priorities for the rest of the year.

As the rotating chair of the bloc, Vietnam is expected to push for discussions on the South China Sea, where several ASEAN nations have overlapping claims with China.

China's intensifying its military presence on the expanding artificial islands in the contested water and recent deployment of ships to Vietnam's and Malaysia's exclusive economic zones have sparked concerns.

Other regional agenda issues include Myanmar's plan to repatriate Rohingya Muslims from refugee camps in Bangladesh.

ASEAN consists of 10 nations including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.