Unity and centrality is crucial now more than ever for ASEAN to play a role and remain relevant in the regional architecture and the rest of the world, said Malaysia's Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.

In his speech in conjunction with the 49th ASEAN Day celebration today, Anifah said ASEAN was making significant progress under all the three ASEAN pillars namely political security, economy and socio-cultural.

"Concrete steps are in place in ensuring peace and stability in the region by addressing both traditional and non-traditional challenges such as terrorism and transnational crimes," he said.

In celebrating the occasion, a flag raising ceremony was held at the Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra) here, attended by diplomats from the ASEAN countries as well as ASEAN dialogue partners.

Anifah's speech was read out by his deputy Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

The ceremony today began with the Malaysian national anthem Negaraku and raising the Jalur Gemilang (national flag), followed by the ASEAN anthem, ASEAN Way and raising the ASEAN flag.

ASEAN Day is celebrated on this date to remember the five founding fathers of ASEAN from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, who signed the Bangkok Declaration for peace and stability in the region and for the people to prosper and progress.

Anifah said ASEAN had also made substantial progress in narrowing the development gap between and within its member states.

With a GDP of almost US$2.6 trillion, ASEAN was the seventh largest market in the world, he said.