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The Kingdom of Belgium will host the next ASEM Summit of Heads of State and Government (ASEM 8) in Brussels on October 4 and 5, 2010. Thirteen years after the launch of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and with the recent addition of Russia and Australia, the informal dialogue process now involves 45 countries that represent more than half the world’s GDP and two regional institutions, the European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat. More countries may be lining up. Political interest to join the ASEM process must be seen as an indication of ASEM’s success, but ASEM’s enlarged – and growing – constituency also means that it is facing a wider range of issues in a world of increasing complexity.

To contribute to the preparation of the ASEM Summit in Brussels, the Asia Europe Foundation, the Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs of Belgium and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung are organizing an ASEM Outlook Workshop. Representatives and experts of Asia and Europe will examine key issues of ASEM’s functionality and efficiency, and try to forecast emergent issues that could influence a future ASEM dialogue agenda.

On the eve of this ASEM Outlook Workshop, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Asia Europe Foundation invited to a Briefing and Roundtable about the actual preparation of the ASEM summit and a discussion about the results and prospects of the ASEM process.

> The report of this roundtable can be viewed here