The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stressed the importance of safeguarding the group's centrality in the regional mechanisms in a joint communique issued in Brunei on Sunday.

The joint communique, which came after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, emphasized the importance of reviewing the processes and institutions of the 10-nation bloc to safeguard its centrality "in response to the evolving geopolitical landscape."

It also said it is looking forward to the early start of the work by a high-level task force to review the institutions and processes of ASEAN.

Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Brunei's minister for foreign affairs and trade, also said he was hoping for the ASEAN ministers to " stick to the idea of ASEAN centrality."

"I think the association is now entering a new period, with growing interest from many countries. There is also a lot of international interest in what we are doing," he said.

The centrality of ASEAN became a subject of scrutiny after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Phnom Penh last year failed to produce a planned joint communique.

The number of ASEAN's dialogue partners at the regional forums has been growing over the years to 10 at present, with the European Union and Canada being the latest.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, which is part of the meetings over three days, mainly discusses the progress in ASEAN's push to build an ASEAN Community by the end of 2015, as well as the cooperation of ASEAN with dialogue partners and other countries.

However, some of the hot topics, including the island disputes involving countries like the Philippines, have been somewhat overshadowing the theme of regional integration and cooperation.