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The purpose of this CEPS Special Report is to assess, in an empirical and factual manner, the recent functioning of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which was created in 1996 as a key forum for dialogue and cooperation between Europe and Asia. First, it takes stock by presenting data on the topics in four ASEM summits or four Foreign Ministers (FMM) meetings since the 2006 Helsinki ASEM summit and their distribution over the three ASEM pillars: i) political, ii) economic and related issues and iii) people-to-people, cultural and educational programmes. This section includes considerable empirical details on the ‘follow-ups’ both from summits and from FMMs. There is also a brief section on ASEM Declarations. A second section presents a detailed scrutiny of the implementation and functioning of the ASEM ‘working methods’, insofar as this is possible from the ‘outside’. The report ends with conclusions and recommendations.

Jacques Pelkmans is Senior Research Fellow at CEPS; Weinian Hu is at CEPS and Gent University. This report was commissioned by the EU in preparation for the 10th ASEM Summit, which was held in Milano in October 2014 with Italy as the host. It can also be downloaded from the website of the European External Action Service.