EU supports Laos hosting ASEM 2012 The European Union has pledged to help Laos host the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in November next year. The statement was made by ASEM Counselor in the European External Action Service Alistair MacDonald at a press conference on Wednesday at the Lao Journalists Association in Vientiane.
He said that the Summit was the largest event ever to be held in Laos with leaders of 50 EU and Asian nations expected to attend.
Mr. Alistair visited Laos on July 25-27 to discuss with Lao senior officials, including those from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on potential themes for the EU support for the summit.
� Laos is playing an active role in the international arena and the EU is looking forward to a very successful 9th ASEM Summit in Vientiane in November 2012. The EU will be happy to provide whatever help we can to support the Lao authorities in preparation for this importance event,� said Mr. MacDonnald.
ASEM is a cooperation forum for Asia and Europe. It was initiated to strengthen dialogue and interaction between the two continents. The inaugural ASEM Summit was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1996 and since then the meeting of Heads of State or government has been organized every two year alternately in Asia and Europe.
The cooperation covers three sectors with a political pillar, an economic pillar and a cultural pillar. The priorities, objectives and principle of the ASEM process have been laid down in the Asia-Europe Cooperation Framework 2000 (AECF 2000).
The ASEM 8 Summit was held in Brussels Belgium on 4 and 5 October 2011. The meeting was attended by the Head of States and Governments of forty �six Asian and European countries, the President of the European Council, President of European Commission and the Secretary-General of ASEAN.
