Foreign Ministers from Asian, European countries met late Monday in Hamburg to discuss the issues including climate change, energy, international trade as well as security in the Middle East.

The 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) follows a summit in Helsinki last September as both sides vowed to expand cooperation.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told the opening ceremony that the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which has 45 members including China, Japan, South Korea, 10 ASEAN nations and 27 EU nations, account for 58 percent of the global population, 60 percent of the world trade and about 50 percent of the world GDP.

"This is the level of influence that we can and should use to an even greater degree in international politics," he said.

Six ASEM new members -- India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bulgaria, Romania and the ASEAN Secretariat -- participated in the gathering for the first time.

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with the EU Troika, grouping Steinmeier, the EU foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana, and European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

Yang described the meeting with the EU leaders as "constructive and fruitful," saying that both sides should push forward the strategic partnership based on common interests.

China and Europe have "a vast potential to tap" in bilateral relationship, he told reporters.

Source: Xinhua