LUANG PRABANG, Laos -- Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states met on Monday to discuss regional issues, with host nation Laos hoping to make a breakthrough in the ongoing crisis in one of its members, Myanmar.

The ASEAN Ministerial Meeting Retreat took place in the World Heritage site of Luang Prabang, the first major event under Laos' ASEAN chairmanship . It took over the bloc's rotating role from last year's Indonesia.