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,[1], as of 2008, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan, and as of 2010, Australia, Russia and New Zealand[2]
The main components of the ASEM process, which has so far been loosely organized, include:
or 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.
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ASEM currently has 48 partners: 46 countries and 2 international organizations. The partners are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, European Commission and ASEAN Secretariat.
The summits, attended by the heads of state and government of respective members, have been held in:
Next summit to be held:
Aside of summits, ministerial meetings are being held concerning the cultural, economic, educational, environmental, finance or foreign affairs issues, attended by the relevant Government ministers. 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 was held on 25–26 May 2009 in Hanoi, Vietnam.The 10th ASEM Foreign Minister's Meeting was held in Gododllo, Hungary on 06-07 June 2011
Furthermore, ministerial conferences are held when needs arise to discuss specific issues and areas beyond the regular ministerial meetings.
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