The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on May 14 announced that the 9th Asia-Europe Foreign Ministerial Meeting (FMM9) will take place at the My Dinh National Convention Centre in Hanoi from May 22-25.

Dao Xuan Hung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke at a press conference in Hanoi on May 14 that as the host country, Vietnam chose the theme “Forging a Closer Asia- European Partnership to Address the Financial and Economic Crisis and Other Global Challenges” for the meeting.

He said the FMM9 is expected to draw around 500 delegates from 45 ASEM members to discuss and work out solutions to fix the global economic crisis. Around 30 countries committed to send their Foreign Minister and others will have their Deputy Foreign Ministers or officials of the same levels at the meeting.

As a member of the ASEM, Vietnam has actively participated in many events of the organization. Beside the FMM 9, Vietnam was the host country for the 5^th ASEM Summit in 2004, the 3^rd ASEM Economic Ministers’ Meeting in 2001 and recently the Energy Security Policy Forum and ASEM Tourism Forum in 2008.

Vietnam has also proposed 10 initiatives and co-sponsored 15 others relating to key areas such as economics, culture and energy security.

Besides the economic debates, the FMM 9 will also deal with imminent challenges, particularly in terms of climate change and energy security.

The FMM 9 will serve as a “bridge” between the two ASEM Summits to take responsibility for steeping up the implementation of ASEM-7 decisions ahead of ASEM-8 in Brussels in 2010.

Hung confirmed that by hosting the meeting, Vietnam wants to reiterate open policies of multilateralisation and diversification, active international economic integration and expanding cooperation in many areas. Vietnam is a trustful friend and a responsible partner of international community and this is the first official meeting at the foreign ministerial level of 45 ASEM members since the Beijing Summit in 2008, he added.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) accounts for 58% of the world’s population, nearly 60% of the global trade revenue and 50% of the global GDP.

FMM9 Agenda and celebrations:

May 15-22: ASEM Film Festival in Hanoi

May 23-24: The 5th seminar of Asia-Europe journalists in Hanoi

May 25-26: The official Asia-Europe Foreign Ministeria Meeting in Hanoi

May 23-26: Exhibition by young Asia-Europe photographers in Hanoi

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