Minister for Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam will lead the Singapore delegation to the 10th Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Godollo, Hungary, from 6 to 7 June 2011. Minister Shanmugam will be accompanied by Mrs Shanmugam and senior MFA officials.
The theme for the 10th ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting is "Working Together on Non-Traditional Security Challenges". Discussions under this general theme will focus on Regional Issues; Global Issues; Non-Traditional Security Challenges; Recovering from the Economic and Financial Crisis; and Overview of ASEM Cooperation.
While in Hungary, Minister Shanmugam will also have bilateral meetings with his counterparts from key Asian and European countries.
ASEM was launched in 1996 as a platform for dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe. The three main pillars of ASEM cooperation are Political Cooperation, Economic Cooperation, and Social/Cultural/Intellectual Cooperation. Eight Summits and nine Foreign Ministers' Meetings have been held. The last summit (ASEM 8) was held in Brussels in October 2010, while the last Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Hanoi in May 2009. ASEM 9 Summit will be hosted by Laos in November 2012.
ASEM has 48 partners, namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Vietnam, the ASEAN Secretariat and the European Commission.
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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
5 JUNE 2011