Dear Noble Researcher,
The ASEM is a summit of leaders from Asia and Europe, a series of
meetings that began in 1996 (in Thailand) and since then takes place
in different capitals: " The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), as it is
called, is indeed a historic occassion since it brings to Thailand
leaders from two continents, representing 25 countries and the
European Commission. Participants to the ASEM include the Heads of
State and Government of ten Asian nations ( Brunei Darussalam, China,
Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam ) and fifteen European nations (
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the
United Kingdom ), as well as the President of the European
Commission." (SOURCE: ASEM 1996,
<http://asem.inter.net.th/asem-info/background.html>).
The ASEM takes place every two years (1996 - Thailand; 1998 - Great
Britain ; 2000 - South Korea; 2002 - Denmark ; 7th and 9th October
2004 - Vietnam).
See more at the Third ASEM site (the Seoul ASEM):
"ASEM, the acronym for Asia-Europe Meeting, is a biennial Summit
meeting of heads of state and government of 10 Asian countries, 16 EU
member states,including the president of the European Commission.
ASEM is not limited to intergovernmental cooperation alone but also
aims to enhance regional ties in the civil sector. Unlike other
regional organizations, ASEM is comprehensive, going far beyond the
business and economic dimension to encompass political, social,
environmental and cultural issues.
In order to facilitate cooperation in various fields, in addition to
the biennial Summit meetings, other meetings such as Foreign
Ministers' Meeting, Economy & Finance Ministers' Meeting and Senior
Officials' Meeting, and Senior Officials' Meeting on Trade and
Investment are held, when necessary, to carry out agreements made by
the Heads of State .
ASEM is essentially an informal dialogue process, not a negotiating
forum. As the members of ASEM believe that the ASEM process should not
be formally institutionalised, but rather remain open and
evolutionary, it presently has neither a formally agreed agenda nor a
secretariat to conduct inter-sessional activities.
As the ASEM process is intended to promote mutual understanding and
develop consensus through dialogue on a wide range of issues, and lead
cooperation in the common interests of the two regions, ASEM should
not be seen as a "bloc-to-bloc" dialogue. It is a unique type of
"region-to-region" dialogue. Each member country participates in ASEM
on an equal footing. Asian and European members usually hold
respective caucus meetings to coordinate their positions before ASEM
meetings."
(SOURCE: ASEM SEOUL, <http://www.asem3.go.kr/english/>).
You can read about ASEM 5 here:
ASEM 5 - European Union <http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/asem/intro/>
I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search terms have
been "ASEM" and "Asia Europe meeting" |
