Asia-Europe Foundation

Period: 1997 -

Budget: N/A

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) was established in Febrary 1997 by the members of Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). Its main objectives are to promote better understanding between the peoples of Asia and Europe through cultural, intellectual and people-to- people exchanges.

Some of the more known initiatives by ASEF include: the ASEF Talks on the Hill, Asia-Europe Lecture Series, Asia-Europe Environment Forum, Informal Human Rights Seminars, Asia-Europe Youth Co-operation Network, Asia-Europe Young Artists' Exchange, ASEMUS (museums), SEA-Images (cinema) and ASEF Editors' Roundtables and Journalists' Colloquia.

Cultural Exchange
The mission of the Cultural Exchange is to provide Young Artists and Cultural Professionals with a meeting point where artistic interventions, dynamic cultural networks and cultural policy development can evolve.

Intellectual Exchange
The Asia- Europe Foundation supports intellectual exchange within areas like:

International Relations – Debate and discourse on regional issues
Education, Science and Technology – Sharing of knowledge
Governance - Bridging government and civil society
Cultures & Civilisations Dialogue - Enhancing mutual understanding

The People-to-People Exchange programme seeks to strengthen networks among the next generation of leaders from Asia and Europe. The People-to-People Exchange initiatives seek to strengthen and sustain:

Asia-Europe exchange and cooperation in the educational field
Contacts, dialogue and cooperation among youth and youth organisations in ASEM countries
Contacts, dialogue and cooperation among the future generation of leaders in key sectors of society in ASEM countries, in the political/public, economic/financial and cultural and social sectors.

The ASEM member countries include:
Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom and Vietnam

Note on the budget: The Foundation is funded by contributions from the member governments but the cost of many of its projects are shared by other institutions as well as private corporations of ASEM countries.

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