Foreign	Economic	Culture	ICT
Finance	Environment	Labour and employment	Others

 

Apart from the biennial Summits, the ASEM process features ministerial and senior official meetings in an increasing number of fields, reflecting the expanding opportunities of dialogue and cooperation between the two regions.

ASEM Foreign Ministers

The Foreign Ministers Meeting is responsible for the overall coordination of the ASEM process and is a driving force of ASEM political dialogue.

 

• The first Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Singapore on 15 February 1997.( Chairman’s Statement [53 KB] )
  
• The second Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Berlin on 28-29 March 1999. ( Chairman’s Statement [90 KB] ) [90 KB] [90 KB]
• The thirdForeign Ministers' Meeting was held in Beijing on 24-25 May 2001. ( Chairman's Statement [67 KB] )
  
• The fourth Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Madrid on 6-7 June 2002. ( Chairman's Statement [71 KB] )
• The fifth Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Bali on 22-24 July 2003. ( Chairman's Statement [35 KB] ) 
• The sixth Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Kildare (Ireland) on 17-18 April 2004.( Chairman's Statement [119 KB] )
• The seventh Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Kyoto (Japan) on 6-7 May 2005. ( Chairman’s Statement )
• The eighth Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Hamburg (Germany) on 28-29 May 2007. ( [44 KB] Chairman' Statement [44 KB] )
• The ninthForeign Ministers' Meeting was held in Ha Noi (Vietnam) on 25-26 May 2009. ( [44 KB] Chairman' Statement [671 KB] )

 

Reporting to Foreign Ministers, a Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) is held regularly. They are assisted by a group of four Coordinators (currently China and Brunei on the Asian side, and the EU Presidency and Commission on the European side), which meet as and when necessary (normally two or three times a year).

ASEM Finance Ministers

• The first Finance Ministers’ Meeting was held in Bangkok on 19 September 1997.
   (Chairman’s Statement [46 KB] )  
• The second Finance Ministers’ Meeting was held in Frankfurt on 15-16 January 1999. ( Chairman’s Statement ) [58 KB]
• The third Finance Ministers’ Meeting was held in Kobe in January 2001.
  ( Chairman’s Statement [57 KB] )

• The Fourth ASEM Finance Ministers' Meeting took place in Copenhagen on July 5-6, 2002.
  ( Chairman's Statement [61 KB] )
• TheFifth ASEM Finance Ministers' Meeting took place in Bali on July 5-6, 2003.
  ( [43 KB] Ministerial Statement [43 KB] ) 
• The Sixth ASEM Finance Ministers’ Meeting took place in Tianjin, China, on 26 June 2005.
  ( Chairman’s Statement [31 KB] ).
  Ministers issued the Tianjin Initiative on Closer ASEM Economic and Financial Cooperation [25 KB] . 
• The Seventh ASEM Finance Ministers’ Meeting took place in Vienna, Austria on 8-9 April 2006. (Chairman Statement) The meeting approved the Terms of Reference of a new ASEM Contingency Dialogue Mechanism for Emergent Economic and Financial Events [32 KB] .
• The Eighth ASEM Finance Ministers’ Meeting was held in Korea -14-17 June 2008.
  ( Chairman's Statement [95 KB] )
• The Ninth ASEM Finance Ministers’ Meeting was held in Madrid, Spain on 17-18 April 2010 ( Chairwoman's Statement [2 MB] )

ASEM Economic Ministers

ASEM Economic Ministers have met six times so far.

• The first Economic Ministers’ Meeting was held in Makuhari on 27-28 September 1997.
  (Chairman’s Statement)
   
• The second Economic Ministers’ Meeting was held in Berlin on 9-10 October 1999.
  (Chairman’s Statement)
   
• The third Economic Ministers’ Meeting was held in Hanoi on 10-11 September 2001.
  ( Chair's Statement, issued under the sole responsibility of the Chair)
   
• The fourth Economic Ministers' meeting was held in Copenhagen in September 2002.
  ( Chair's Statement)
   
• The fifth Economic Ministers' meeting was held in Dalian (China) in July 2003.
  ( Chair's Statement )
   
• The High Level Meeting within the framework of the Asia-Europe Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Rotterdam in September 2005. ( Chair’s statement [26 KB] )

 

A Senior Officials’ Meeting on Trade and Investment (SOMTI) assists with the work of Economic Ministers. The conclusions of each meeting are summarised in a Chairman’s Statement. To date, ten such meetings have been held:

 

• SOMTI 1 - Brussels, 24-25 July 1996
• SOMTI 2 - Tokyo, 6 June 1997
• SOMTI 3 - Brussels, 5-6 February 1998
• SOMTI 4 - Singapore, 12-13 February 1999
• SOMTI 5 - Brussels, 7-8 July 1999
• SOMTI 6 - Seoul, 12-13 May 2000
• SOMTI 7 - Brussels, 4-5 July 2001
• SOMTI 8 - Bali, 17 July 2002
• SOMTI 9 - Paris, 6 June 2003
• SOMTI 10 - Qing Dao, China, 18-19 July 2005

 

ASEM Environment Ministers' Meeting

The third ASEM Environment Ministers’ Meeting was held in Denmark in April 2007. ( Chairman's Statement [19 KB] ). See also: Speech by Stavros Dimas, Commissioner for Environment, Climate Change & Sustainable Use of Energy 25/04/07

The second ASEM Environment Ministers' Meeting was held in Lecce, Italy on 12-13 October, 2003. (Chairman's Statement) .

The first ASEM Environment Ministers' Meeting was held in Beijing, China on 17 January, 2002. (Chairman's Statement).

ASEM Culture Ministers' Meeting

The first ASEM Conference of Ministers of Culture was held in Beijing, China in December 2003. (Chairman's Statement)
The second ASEM Conference on Cultures and Civilisations took place in Paris, 7-8 June 2005. (Chairman’s Statement ) ( The Conference background documents )
The third ASEM Culture Ministers’ Meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in April 2008.

ASEM Labour and Employment Ministers' Conference

The first ASEM Labour and Employment Ministers’ Conference was held in Potsdam, Germany on 3-5 September 2006. ( Chairman’s Conclusions ). The second ASEM Labour and Employment Ministers’ Conference was held in Indonesia in 2008. ( Chairman's Conclusions ). Declaration on 'More and Better Jobs...' [227 KB]

ASEM Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology

An ASEM Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology was held in Beijing on 14-15 October 1999. The conclusions of this meeting are summarised in a Chairman’s Statement and Ministerial Communique

ASEM Ministerial Conference on Cooperation for the Management of Migratory Flows between Europe and Asia

The Ministerial Conference was held in Lanzarote, Spain in April 2002 (Declaration) . Thereafter, four meetings on management of migratory flows have been held at Directors-General level.

ASEM ICT Ministerial Meeting

The first ASEM ICT Ministerial Meeting (High-level Conference on Applications of ICT in Human Resource Development and Capacity Building) will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 30 November to 1 December 2006. For further details, please refer to its official website: http://www.asemictmin.vnn.vn .

ASEM Small and Medium Entreprises (SME) Ministerial Meeting

The first ASEM Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting will be held in Beijing, China in October 2007.

ASEM Education Ministerial Meeting

The first ASEM Education Ministerial Meeting  was held in Germany - 5-6 May 2008

ASEM Transport Ministers' Meeting

The first ASEM Transport Ministers' Meeting was held in Lithuania - 19-20 October 2009. For further details, please refer to its official website: http://asemtransport.org