STATE HEAD AT ASEM SUMMIT

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The 10th Asia-Europe Meeting /ASEM/ summit has started in Milan of Italy, in which Mongolia has been represented by the President and accompanying him delegates. The ASEM meeting is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation bringing together the 27 European Union member-states, 2 other European countries /Norway, Switzerland/, and the European Union with 10 South East Asian and 10 North East Asian countries including Australia, China, Mongolia, Myanmar, Russia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, India, Japan, and the ASEAN Secretariat. This latest round of enlargement brings total ASEM membership to 51 partners. Currently, the European Union and Italy are the European coordinators and Malaysia and Mongolia are the Asian coordinators. The ASEM Meeting takes place once every two years. It serves as podium for every decision-makers, policy-makers, scientists, representatives from civil society and businessmen to express their views. The ASEM dialogue addresses political, economic and cultural issues, with the objective of strengthening the relationship between our two regions, in a spirit of mutual respect and equal partnership. The President Elbegdorj, as the coordinator for North and South East Asian countries at the ASEM Meeting, has met with a president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, a President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini to exchange views on issues related to organizing the ASEM meeting. The current summit is taking place under the theme of “Responsible Partnership for Sustainable Growth and Security”.