ASEM is essentially a top-level forur convened every two years for government leaders of Europe and Asia to discuss the great issues of the times, share visions of the future, and give impetus to cooperation between the two
regions. The ASEM fqreign ministers met for the first time right after the ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting in February 1997. Since then, forums have convened among economic, finance and environment ministers. The Asia Europe
Foundation, which is headquartered in Singapore, serves as ASEM' de facto executive for cultural, educational, intellectual and people-to-people exchanges. With limited resources, ASEF has sponsored, almost non-stop, an
impressive number of imaginative events - colloquiums, symposiums, book and journal-publishing, cultural festivals- ii). both Asia and Europe, bringing the peoples of the two regions together, promoting understanding between
them. With its 2004 enlargement, ASEM now counts thirty-nine participants, including the European Commission.