Can ASEM remain relevant in the 21st Century World? EU Centre Policy Brief, No. 9/September 2015

Lay Hwee, Yeo (2015) Can ASEM remain relevant in the 21st Century World? EU Centre Policy Brief, No. 9/September 2015. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

The 12th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Foreign Ministers meeting will take place in Luxembourg on 5-6 November 2015. This will be an important occasion as the 53 partners in the ASEM process prepare for the 20th anniversary of ASEM that will be celebrated at the Summit Meeting in Mongolia next year. In the run-up to the 20th anniversary summit in 2016, ASEM partners will not only take stock of the achievements during the past two decades but also ponder over the future direction of ASEM. This policy brief tries to address the question on how ASEM can move forward and remain relevant in an increasingly uncertain and volatile world. It begins by sketching some of the broad trends shap-ing the emerging world order, and the implications for international cooperation. It argues that there is a need for ASEM to move beyond meetings to transform itself into a dynamic marketplace, leverag-ing on its diverse membership and fluidity to enable the building of different constellations of trans-national networks to align ideas, interest and issues.

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