The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is a cooperation forum for Asian and European countries. It was initiated to strengthen dialogue and interaction between the two regions. The inaugural ASEM Summit was held in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996 and since then the meeting of Heads of State or Government has been organised every two years alternately in Asia and Europe.

 

The members participating in the ASEM cooperation include the 25 Member States of the European Union, the European Commission, ten ASEAN countries (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN) plus China, Japan and South Korea. 

 

The ASEM process is based on dialogue with the objective of strengthening the mutual understanding between the two regions as well as to promote concrete cooperation aiming at sustainable economic and social development. Cooperation covers three sectors referred to as a political pillar, economic pillar and cultural pillar.

 

The ASEM cooperation consists of meetings which focus on different fields and convene on various levels. The most important meeting formations include the meetings of the Heads of State or Government, Ministerial Meetings, Senior Officials' Meetings and expert-level meetings.

 

In addition to official level cooperation, the process aims to increase dialogue between both economic actors and NGOs. The ASEM Summits are paralleled by the Asia-Europe Business Forum (AEBF) for the representatives of business sector and the Asia-Europe People's Forum (AEPF) for the representatives of NGOs. Dialogue between individual citizens is promoted through various cooperation and exchange programmes.