The Seventh ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Foreign Ministers' Meeting scheduled in Kyoto, Japan
April 2005
Japan will host the Seventh ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting (FMM7) in Kyoto. This is the first ASEM Meeting at ministerial level since the ASEM5 Summit in Hanoi last October, during which the ASEM leaders agreed to enlarge the ASEM membership to include thirteen new members from Asia and Europe. Details of the meeting are given below.
1. Schedule
6 and 7 May, 2005
Friday, 6 May
(Evening)
- Opening ceremony
- First Plenary Session and Informal Working Dinner (Discussion on political issues)
Saturday, 7 May
(Morning)
- Second Plenary Session (Discussion on economic, social, cultural and other issues)
- Third Plenary Session and Working Lunch) (Discussion on the future of ASEM)
(Afternoon)
- Closing Session
- Joint Press Conference
(Evening)
- Social Dinner hosted by the Governor of Kyoto Prefecture, the Mayor of Kyoto City and the Chairman of the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry
2. Venue
Kyoto, Japan (Kyoto State Guest House and Kyoto International Conference Hall. ASEM FMM7 is going to be the first international event to take place at the Kyoto State Guest House)
3. Participants
Foreign Ministers and other heads of delegations from 39 ASEM members will participate in the meeting. Mr. Nobutaka Machimura, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, will chair the meeting.
(Japan, China, Republic of Korea, and ASEAN member states from Asia. 25 EU member states and the European Commission from Europe.)
4. Theme
"Deepening of Asia - Europe Dialogue on Global Challenges"
5. Agenda
(1) Political issues
The focus o discussion will be placed on how to strengthen multilateralism and enhance the role of the UN including its institutional reforms. In this connection, various security threats such as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), terrorism, and transnational organized crimes, as well as major regional situations including those of Korean Peninsula and the Middle East will be discussed.
(2) Economic, social, cultural and other issues
The Ministers are expected to focus their discussion on the sustainable development (including environment and energy security). The importance of cultural diversity will also be addressed.
(3) The future of ASEM
In accordance with the tasks assigned by the Leaders at ASEM5, the Ministers are expected to discuss following points and set directions toward ASEM6:
- defining a small number of areas of substantive cooperation to be promoted until ASEM6;
- improvement of ASEM institutional mechanism, including the possible Secretariat functions; and
- future membership enlargement.
6. Aims of the meeting
- ASEM FMM7 aims to help deepen mutual understanding between Asia and Europe and promote dialogue and cooperation between the two regions to deal with various challenges the international community faces.
- It also aims to send meaningful messages from ASEM Foreign Ministers, in advance to the major international events scheduled for this year, such as the G8 Summit and the Hi-level Plenary Meeting on United Nations Millennium Declaration.
(Note) ASEM
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was started in 1996 with original 26 partners to enhance dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe, which now together account for about 40% of the world population, half of GDP and 60% of trade volume. Various ministerial meetings are regularly held under the ASEM framework, including the Summits, the Foreign Ministers' Meetings, the Economic Ministers' Meetings and the Finance Ministers' Meetings. Ten new EU member states, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar joined ASEM at the ASEM5 Summit in Hanoi last October, which enlarged ASEM partners to 38 countries and one organization (the European Commission)
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