Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an intergovernmental forum for dialogue and cooperation established in 1996 to deepen relations between Asia and Europe. The Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) aims at promoting a deeper knowledge of it through the organisation of events and the drafting of policy reports and recommendations to foster bi-regional dialogue, focusing on ways to support the development of ASEM. Seminars intend to provide a platform where policymakers and relevant business and financial stakeholders can share best practices, views and opinions, while drawing from significant findings, experiences and lessons learnt. IAI policy reports explore and assess a variety of policies and measures, implemented at national, regional or international level to promote innovative solutions and ideas to promote a better political and economic coordination between ASEM countries.
In particular IAI aims to:

• address the current role and contribution of ASEM to economic growth and regional stability
• promote a series of policy recommendations for ASEM Governments
• review the opportunities for raising the effectiveness of policies and regulations through an enhanced cooperation between Asia and Europe.

In view of the 11th ASEM Summit of Heads of State and Government held in July 2016 in Mongolia, the Istituto Affari Internazionali organised an event in June at the Italian Parliament to allow Italian MPs to discuss the outcome of the 9th Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting (ASEP) held in April and offer useful feedbacks. The aim of the event was to assess and examine the current state of EU-Asia relations, including the limits and future prospect of the ASEM process from a political and economic perspective. Moreover, speakers were asked to identify some practical ideas/options for the future architecture of EU-Asia relations in order to enable the two regions to better take advantage of their growing economic and political interdependence. The Istituto Affari Internazionali is in charge of producing a final report with policy recommendations for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.