While many Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministers meet regularly, the defence chiefs have so far avoided formal talks and the inaugural session is seen as an important attempt to shelve historic tensions.

Ministers will brief each other on the security situation in their countries and also tackle the issues of terrorism, high-seas piracy, disaster relief, transnational crime and the crisis on the Korean peninsula.

But the highlight of a joint statement to be issued late Tuesday will be a commitment to the ASEAN Security Community, said M.C. Abad, spokesman for ASEANs secretary-general.

"The establishment of the defence ministers' meeting reflects ASEAN's seriousness in carrying out the ASEAN Security Community plan of action," he told AFP.

ASEAN, which has said it wants to establish economic, security and social communities by 2020, describes the plan not as a defence pact but rather a vision for better political and security cooperation.

Abad said the statement would also commit member states -- who range from democracies to communist regimes and military dictatorships -- to improve dialogue on security and defence cooperation.

Officials from ASEAN nations have hailed the gathering in the Malaysian capital as an historic one for the grouping, which was founded four decades ago when the region was seething with tension and enmities.

"Its a very fortunate development for regional integration in ASEAN," the blocs deputy secretary-general Wilfrido Villacorta told reporters late Monday.

"The purpose is not to come up with a military alliance, or joint defence policy, but more to start with the first step, which is dialogue among the defence ministers," he said.

However the inaugural meeting has been marred by the absence of military-run Myanmar, which has been under fire from ASEAN over the slow pace of its democratic reforms.

Yangon has said only that they are busy with other engagements, leaving officials mystified.

"Its very hard to guess what the reason is," said Villacorta.

"It would have been ideal if Myanmar were present, but Im sure that the Myanmar government has a good reason," he said, adding ASEAN was "not worried" by their absence.

Southeast Asia has in recent years seen crises ranging from the destructive tsunami to the emergence of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, and Villacorta said one focus of the discussions would be disaster management.

"One thing that is considered important among others is the rapid response to disasters," he said.

"For disasters, which would include pandemics, the assistance of the military establishment will be elicited or enlisted, so I would imagine that the ministers will give that particular area of cooperation the importance it deserves."

Ministers will also mull a proposal for the powerful new grouping to eventually meet with defence ministers from outside the region to discuss security issues, said Abad.

The idea comes from realising "that our security issues are very much inter-related and inter-connected," he said, citing international terrorism and transnational crime.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Ministers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have confirmed their attendance, while Brunei and Vietnam are sending deputy ministers.

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