Brussels, 20 October 2018: The 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit was held in Brussels on 18-19 October, 2018. Fifty-one member countries from Asia and Europe, and two institutional members - the EU and ASEAN, participated in the summit.

As a deliverable of the Summit, ERIA presented the ‘Brussels Report on Strengthening Asia Europe Connectivity: Drawing Synergy from Global Development and Governance Programmes’ to the Asia Europe Pathfinders Group on Connectivity (APGC) Meeting.

 The report presents a new paradigm of Asia Europe connectivity, suggesting interlinkages with the Sustainable Development goals 2030, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the Istanbul and Vienna Programme of Action. It lays out pathways for ASEM’s participation in global governance mechanisms like the G20 and the WTO as well as mechanisms to uphold multilateralism and the rule based order.

Many of the recommendations of the Brussels Report have been included in the 12th ASEM Chair’s Statement.

ERIA also participated in two more deliverables for the 12th ASEM Summit. The ASEM Sustainable Connectivity Portal – an online tool offering a wealth of data on the political, economic and social relationship between the two continents, and the ASEM Inventory Connectivity report, both of which are mentioned in the ASEM Chair’s Statement.

The three reports support the works of policymakers, researchers, businesses, citizens and other stakeholders by identifying the strengths, gaps and opportunities in Asia Europe cooperation. These can be used to promote linkages across all three pillars of ASEM: political, economic and financial and social-cultural.