12th ASEM Summit

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was formally established at the first ASEM Summit in March 1996 in Bangkok, Thailand. ASEM currently has 53 partners, including 31 European members (28 EU member states plus Norway, Switzerland and the European Commission) and 22 Asian members (10 ASEAN economies plus Australia, Bangladesh, China, Japan, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea and the ASEAN Secretariat).

Russia joined ASEM at the eighth summit in Brussels in October 2010.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an informal interregional process of dialogue for cooperation that addresses political, security, financial, economic, social and cultural issues.

The biennial ASEM summits of the heads of state and government are held alternately in Asia and Europe.