Foreign and Military Affairs

ASEM summit to focus on "quality of life"

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-04 10:02

BRUSSELS - Leaders from the 27 European Union (EU) Member States and 16 Asian countries, including China, along with the European Commission and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat, will hold their 8th ASEM meeting on October 4 and 5 to discuss common issues under the new motto "Quality of life."

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ASEM participants are expected to discuss the final way out of the economic and financial crisis, with a focus on defining new supervisory arrangements and addressing public deficits.

Sustainable development, in particular Millennium Development Goals, will be at the heart of the debate.

Leaders will address economic development, with a special attention to innovation, sectoral developments and food security.

Various issues will be discussed regarding social development, such as working conditions, social security schemes and safety nets.

As development also refers to environment, ASEM members will have talks on climate change, energy supply and availability of green technologies.

Cross-border challenges, such as terrorism and organized crime, but also disaster relief and prevention will be on the 8th ASEM agenda.

Apart from global issues, regional issues are also expected to be addressed during the meeting, including the Korean Peninsula question, the Iranian nuclear issue and developments in Afghanistan.

Finally, ASEM leaders will discuss how to promote people to people relations as a way of strengthening EU-Asia relations, for instance through academic and cultural exchanges. During the summit, the 48 participants will also suggest initiatives to increase ASEM visibility on the global scene.

The Asia-Europe Meeting is a biennial meeting launched in 1996 to discuss common issues and global challenges, focusing on the relationships between the two regions. With the accession of Russia, Australia and New Zealand in 2010, ASEM now counts 48 members, representing 58 percent of global population, 50 percent of global GDP and over 60 percent of global trade.