History & Current Situation of Asia-Europe Meeting

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, July 19, 2003

History & Current Situation of Asia-Europe Meeting

The fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Economic Ministers' Meeting (EMM) is scheduled to be held from Tuesday to Thursday in Dalian, a port city in northeastern China.

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The fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Economic Ministers' Meeting (EMM) is scheduled to be held from Tuesday to Thursday in Dalian, a port city in northeastern China.

As a ministerial meeting of the ASEM, the EMM is aimed at pushing economic and trade cooperation between Asia and Europe to a higher level.

Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, along with then French president Francois Mitterrand, jointly proposed to launch the ASEM when Goh paid a visit to France in October 1994.

The principal goals of the ASEM are to establish a new and comprehensive partnership between Asia and Europe, to create favorable conditions for economic and social development of the two continents, and to maintain world peace and stability.

Asian and European countries agreed to establish a mechanism ofregular contacts at different levels, including the summit meeting,the Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the EMM, the Finance Ministers' meeting and other ministerial meetings.

The ASEM holds a summit every two years and the venue alternates between Asia and Europe. Four summit meetings have so far been held.

The first ASEM summit was held in Bangkok, Thailand in March, 1996 and was the first gathering of Asian and European leaders.

The United Kingdom hosted the second summit in London in April 1998, which mainly addressed the unexpected Asian financial storms.

The third ASEM summit was held in Seoul, South Korea in October2000, at which the Asia-Europe Cooperation Framework 2000 and the Seoul Declaration on the inter-Korean peace were adopted.

The fight against international terrorism topped the agenda of the fourth summit in Copenhagen, Denmark in September 2002, and the Asian and European countries called for dialogue between different cultures and civilizations.

Since the launch of the ASEM, Asia and Europe have had many in-depth political dialogues, conducted extensive cooperation in economic, scientific and technological, environmental, cultural and educational fields, and played an important role in maintaining world peace and stability and building a multi-polar world.

The ASEM member countries now comprises 10 Asian countries (China, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam), 15 European Union member states (Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland and Sweden), and the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

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