Asia-Europe Meeting

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was officially established in 1996 at the first summit in Bangkok. ASEM is an interregional forum which consists of the European Commission, the twenty-seven members of the European Union (EU), the thirteen members of the ASEAN Plus Three regional grouping [cite book|title=Asia and Europe: the development and different dimensions of ASEM |author= Lay Hwee Yeo|year=2003|publisher=Routledge (UK)|id=ISBN 0415306973] , and, as of 2008, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan.

The main components of the ASEM process, which has so far been loosely organized, include:-
* political dialogue
* security and the economy
* education and cultureor the so-called three pillars.

In general, the process is considered by the parties involved to be a way of deepening the relations between Asia and Europe at all levels, which is deemed necessary to achieve a more balanced political and economic world order. The process is enhanced by the biannual meetings of heads of state, alternately in Europe and Asia, and political, economic, and cultural meetings and events at all kinds of other levels.

In February 1997, ASEM member countries established Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), which is based in Singapore and mandated to promote better mutual understanding between the peoples of Asia and Europe through greater intellectual, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges. The Foundation is funded by contributions from the member governments, but the cost of many of its projects are shared by other institutions as well as private corporations of ASEM countries. One way ASEF carries out its mandate is by creating its own projects. Some of these initiatives include Asia-Europe Lecture, Asia-Europe Young Artists' Painting Competition and Exhibition, Informal Human Rights Seminar, Asia-Europe Youth Co-operation Network, and ASEF Editors' Roundtable.

The meetings have been held in:

* 1996 ASEM 1, Bangkok, Thailand
* 1998 ASEM 2, London, United Kingdom
* 2000 ASEM 3, Seoul, South Korea
* 2002 ASEM 4, Copenhagen, Denmark
* 2004 ASEM 5, Hanoi, Vietnam
* 2006 ASEM 6, Helsinki, Finland (India, Mongolia and Pakistan were invited to participate in future meetings. [http://www.eubusiness.com/Trade/060910090053.77yvakot] )
* 2008 ASEM 7, will be held on October 24-25 in Beijing, China

The 8th ASEM Foreign Ministers meeting at May 28-29th 2007 in Hamburg was attended by the 10 members of ASEAN, the 27 member countries of the EU, the European Commission, the EU High-Representative Javier Solana, the ASEAN General-Secretariat, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan and Mongolia. The 9th ASEM Foreign Ministers meeting will be held in 2009 in Viet Nam.

ee also

*Asia-Europe Foundation, the only physical institution under ASEM framework.
*Association of Southeast Asian Nations

References

External links

* [http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/asem/intro/ Introduction to Asia-Europe Meeting]
* [http://www.jcie.or.jp/books/abstracts/A/asem10.html ASEM in Its Tenth Year: Looking Forward, Looking Back]
* [http://www.aseminfoboard.org/ ASEM Infoboard]
* [http://www.asef.org/ Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)]
* [http://ccm.um.edu.my/ccm/navigation/academics/institute/asia-europe-institute/ Asia-Europe Institute (AEI)]
* [http://www.iias.nl/International Institute for Asian Studies]
* [http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?&&text10=aepf&menu=11a Asia-Europe People's Forum]
* [http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/index.aspx Virtual Collection of Masterpieces (VCM)]