Insights

“New Silk Road” – Asia-Europe meeting

13 April 2015

Since the first Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) in Bangkok in 1996 during which the partners agreed to strengthen relations between the two regions, cooperation and interdependency have grown significantly.

Asia has now become the largest trading partner for the European Union (EU), and Asia's emerging global champions are increasingly seeking out business deals in Europe. The two regions also share common challenges in the security, cultural, transport, education and other sectors, thus reflecting a growing recognition that 21st-century challenges can only be tackled through improved global governance.

What is ASEM?

ASEM is an informal intergovernmental cooperation platform on different levels which encompasses political and economic dialogue and seeks to address social and cultural issues in a spirit of mutual respect and equal partnership. These meetings provide an opportunity for high-level officials to discuss issues of concern to both regions in a neutral environment.

The ASEM process began with a mutual understanding of the need to strengthen relations between Asia and Europe, thus also reacting to how the world map changed in 1990 and the prospects for the new century. In 1994, the European Commission published a document entitled "Towards a New Strategy for Asia", which stressed the need to modernise EU relations with Asia by properly reflecting the political, economic and cultural significance of the region.

Latvia joined the ASEM process in 2004 after its accession to the EU. ASEM currently has 53 partners: 51 European and Asian countries and two organisations (the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat).

ASEM's three-pillar structure

ASEM cooperation is based on three pillars – political, economic, and educational-cultural – with political dialogue traditionally being the key element of the ASEM process.

Political pillar: activities focus on multilateral cooperation to address topical international issues, such as security, the fight against terrorism, environmental issues, human rights and global challenges.
Economic pillar: activities focus on promoting a multilateral economy, developing trade and investment, facilitating dialogue in the field of finance, managing financial crises, promoting dialogue with the private sector, working towards closer economic partnership, as well as on social issues and the effects of globalisation.
Educational-cultural pillar: the aim here is to develop and promote cooperation in intercultural and inter-religion dialogue, and to facilitate cooperation between Asia and Europe in the fields of education, science and technology, and in Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) projects.

Promoting dialogue

One of ASEM's unique characteristics is the informal atmosphere in which national officials and representatives of various organisations are able to talk over issues of common interest in open discussions.

At micro-level, ASEM has promoted socialisation processes by creating trust-based relations among different Asian and European communities. These include, in the first place, policy-makers who formulate and examine ideas for future policy development at different meeting formats.

Second, through different instruments, such as the Asia-Europe Business Forum (AEBF) or the Investment Promotion Action Plan (IPAP), ASEM facilitates business contacts and interregional trade and investment. By better connecting the two regions, the movement of goods, capital, services and persons becomes easier; this is often dubbed the "New Silk Road".

Third, through a variety of cultural and youth activities, and the engagement of the NGO sector, ASEM's focus is also geared towards civil society groups.

In a broader context, by bringing together countries and cultures from both regions, ASEM forms the basis for stronger links between Asia and Europe. In this way, the ASEM format can contribute to the stability of the global system, peace, prosperity and equality.

Events during the Latvian Presidency

The ASEM Summit takes place once every two years, alternating between European and Asian host cities. At the Summits, high-level officials from partner countries and organisations come together to discuss topical issues in the region and the world and to set out the goals and priorities for further work. The most recent ASEM Summit took place in Milan, Italy, in the second half of 2014.

Meetings among foreign, culture, finance, education, employment, welfare and other ministers are organised following the same two-year pattern. In between these meetings, senior officials in the respective fields come together in preparatory meetings to set the agenda for the Summit and the ministerial meeting.

Given that one of the priorities of the Latvian Presidency is Engaged Europe with its main goal being for the EU to take an active role in solving global issues, many key ASEM events will take place during the Presidency when Riga will become the ASEM capital.

On 27-28 April, the 5th ASEM Education Ministers' Meeting (ASEM ME5) will discuss higher education quality assurance, engaging business and industry in education, and other issues. In preparation for the large-scale event, the 1st Preparatory Senior Officials' Meeting for Education took place in November last year and this will be followed by a second meeting in April shortly before the ministerial event.

On 29-30 April, the 3rd ASEM Transport Ministers' Meeting will take place at which the ministers and parties involved will discuss the development of Euro-Asia land transport linkages. Special attention will be paid to rapidly growing trade volumes between Asia and Europe and the capacity of the transport system to handle such flows of goods, the increasing role played by Central Asian countries, and other issues.

Video preview of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Milan on 16-17 October 2014: