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By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

While it may have gone through a bad economic patch in the past two to three years, Europe seems to be recovering well lately particularly Germany and France, Europe's two largest economies.

The 25-member EU was Singapore's largest trading partner in 2005, bypassing the United States and Japan, and this may hold true again in 2006. Similarly, the EU counts as one of developing Asia's top three trading partners, alongside the United States and Japan.

The EU still remains a hub of technological innovation and expertise in various fields. Culturally, Europe is probably at its height of vibrancy: Many global issues are actively debated and discussed in European intellectual circles today, ranging from the effects of globalization to religious issues. This clear vibrancy and intellectual fervor will undoubtedly rise further as social issues are debated more forthrightly in this "marketplace of ideas."

It is in this context of Europe's slow "re-emergence" and Asia's spectacular economic "rise" that the Sixth Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, will take place on September 10-11 in Helsinki, Finland. The last meeting was in Hanoi, Viet Nam, as meeting venues are rotated every 18 months between Asia and Europe.

Today, ASEM groups the 25 EU countries, the European Commission and 13 Asian countries, comprising the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries plus China, Japan and South Korea.

ASEM was proposed in 1994, when Singapore's then prime minister Goh Chok-tong first launched the idea in Paris, feeling that Asian-European relations were weak. Relations were developing well at that time between the United States and Asia across the Pacific just as sound trans-Atlantic relations reigned between Washington and the EU.

Goh first voiced this idea when he met officially with then French premier Edouard Balladur in Paris, and later expounded on it intellectually when he was hosted to a lunch talk by the prestigious Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, or IFRI. The stage was then set for a more profound consultation with other Asian and European leaders, who felt the move timely and necessary.

Meanwhile, then senior minister Lee Kuan-yew also remarked that it was timely to re-engage the Europeans with Asia, as they appeared more and more preoccupied (if rightly so at the time) with their own internal consolidation and expansion after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

It was therefore timely to "bridge" the missing third side of the US-EU-Asia triangle through a regular series of meetings amongst European and Asian leaders, along the lines of APEC for the Asia-Pacific. Actively building bridges between Asia and Europe would augur well for the future and for greater stability in the international order.

The ASEM was formally launched with a summit held in Bangkok, Thailand on 1 March 1996, between the 15 EU nations of the time, the European Commission and only 10 countries from Asia seven ASEAN countries, China, Japan and South Korea.

The Helsinki Summit would be the sixth since then; but in celebrating 10 years of ASEM, Asian and European leaders also need to do a serious evaluation of the whole ASEM process.

Economic co-operation has been going on well not necessarily under the aegis of ASEM, as business contacts have developed between Asia and Europe over the past years. Investments have flourished, just as Asian investors currently take stakes in European economies; this should not cause alarm or provoke unnecessary European resistance. This is where the "mutual understanding" role that ASEM undoubtedly plays must be well borne out.

In a world wrecked by misunderstandings and religious intolerance, ASEM has a crucial bridging role, especially in dividing Euro-Asian issues ranging from globalization, the environment and immigration to democracy and human rights. A constant dialogue between Asian and European leaders, intellectuals and public opinion-makers could truly enhance mutual understanding and co-operation between Europeans and Asians.

Cultural co-operation is one significant aspect of co-operation between the two peoples, as both Asians and Europeans have rich cultural traditions and heritages. The Singapore-based Asia-Europe Foundation, or ASEF, is a vital organization that contributes actively to ASEM co-operation, especially in developing intellectual, cultural and person-to-person exchanges, ranging from journalists to leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from both continents.

Added to this has been the important Interfaith Dialogue series, which attempts to bridge the gap in religious understanding that has opened up since last year with the mishaps of the "Danish cartoons" controversy. Meetings, dialogues and co-operation have also developed well across the board, with European and Asian ministers meeting more regularly, ranging from the culture and environment portfolios to immigration and labor dossiers. Thus, through the ASEM process, functional co-operation has become the norm in Asia-European relations.

It is thus hoped that, with increasing mutual understanding and a greater co-operative spirit to work together, Asia and Europe could truly consolidate understanding and ties between the two peoples, leading to mutually beneficial long-term relations. This is truly the spirit of ASEM that must prevail in Helsinki, as Asians and Europeans celebrate the 10th anniversary of ASEM and make an independent assessment of this decade-long process that has clearly brought Asians and Europeans much closer today in spirit and thoughts.

The author is a council member of the Singapore Institute for International Affairs.

(China Daily September 8, 2006)