Asia–Europe Meeting`s 20th anniversary

Asia–Europe Meeting’s
20th anniversary
ASEM 1996–2016: 20 years of dialogue
and cooperation
co m pac t
g u i d es
The Asia-Europe Meeting celebrates 20
years of dialogue and cooperation
The first ASEM Summit was held on 1-2 March 1996. It marked
the start of a process that engaged both regions in dialogue
and cooperation on political, economic and socio-cultural
issues. The origins of the ASEM process lay in the recognition
that the relationship between the two regions, Asia and Europe,
could be strengthened.
For the past 2 decades ASEM has played a pivotal role as a
forum for dialogue and cooperation. ASEM celebrates its
20th anniversary on 15-16 July 2016 at the 11th ASEM Summit
(ASEM11) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Managing growing Europe-Asia relations
ASEM was established as a new process between Asia-Europe,
complementing existing Europe-Asia relations. ASEM is not a
substitute for other bilateral or multilateral forums between Asia
and Europe, and it can help to facilitate and stimulate progress
in other forums. As a new layer of dialogue and cooperation,
ASEM has enhanced synergies in Europe-Asia relations and
served as catalyst for overall Asia-Europe relations.
ASEM has helped Europe and Asia to have a more global vision
of the two regions. By remaining an informal dialogue-based
process, ASEM aims to promote overall Asia-Europe relations on
international and inter-regional issues of common interest. By
bringing together different cultures and civilisations, ASEM is a
unique process to foster common understanding and dialogue.
From the initial Summit with 26 partners, ASEM now brings
together 51 countries and 2 international institutions. This
growth has taken place in several stages. Partly, it has followed
naturally through the enlargement of the European Union
and ASEAN, partly additional countries have seen the value of
joining in this fruitful process. The following illustrations present
the current ASEM partners and show the development in ASEM
membership over these 20 years.
Today, almost two thirds of the world population is living in
countries participating in the ASEM process. Over the last 20
years, the population living in ASEM partner countries has
grown from just under 2.2 billion in 1996 to 4.5 billion in 2014,
(the most recent year for which data are available).
Social and economic progress
Across the ASEM partners, data show that there has been
a trend over the last 20 years for people to move from the
countryside into cities, in particular into cities with more than
one million inhabitants, most notably among the Asian ASEM
partners. This trend reinforces and creates new social challenges
that are common to all ASEM partners, calling for exchange of
experiences and solutions.
While there are variations in the share of the population at
school age or below (0-14 years) across the ASEM partners, it is
interesting to note that the share of the population of working
age (15-64 years) is relatively similar between the regions.
It is notable how much the GDP in the ASEM partners has
grown since 1996, both in total and measured per inhabitant.
The data also reflect the rapid emergence of the ‘information
society’, with rapid growth in both mobile phone and internet
usage.
Asia-Europe Meeting partners:
European Union Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland,
Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands,
Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia,
Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom
Other European partners: Norway and Switzerland
ASEAN member states: Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam
Northeast and South Asia (NESA) partners:
Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan and
Russian Federation
International institutions: European Union and
ASEAN Secretariat
Number of ASEM partners at each enlargement
60
50
2
1
40
2
2
10
9
6
3
30
20
10
0
10
1
3
7
10
10
2
11
10
10
2
2
27
27
27
28
2008
2010
2012
2014
25
15
1996
2004
EU
Norway and Switzerland
ASEAN
NESA
Intl. organisations (1)
(1) European Union from 1996 onwards; ASEAN Secretariat from 2008 onwards
Source: ASEM Infoboard
Surface area of ASEM at each enlargement (million square
kilometres)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1996
2004
EU
2008 (1)
2010
Norway and Switzerland (2)
ASEAN
2012
2014
NESA
(1) 2008: Major enlargement, including India; (2) Norway and Switzerland are ASEM
members since 2012
Source: ASEM Infoboard
Share of ASEM in the world population (1) (%)
70
60
60
62
50
40
38
37
38
1996
2001
2006
30
20
10
0
2011
2014
(1) Total ASEM population corresponds to the population of the countries who were
ASEM partners in the year in question
Source: World Bank World Development indicators
Unemployment rate in ASEM, 1996–2014 (% of the labour
force)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ASEM
EU
Norway and Switzerland (1)
ASEAN
NESA
(1) Norway and Switzerland are ASEM members since 2012
Source: International Labour Organization
Share of ASEM population aged 0 to 14 years, 2014 (% of
total population)
30
25
27
23
23
20
16
16
EU
Norway and
Switzerland
15
10
5
0
ASEM
ASEAN
NESA
Source: World Bank World Development indicators
Share of ASEM population of working age (aged 15 to 64
years), 2014 (% of total population)
80
70
68
66
67
67
EU
Norway and
Switzerland
ASEAN
69
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
ASEM
Source: World Bank World Development indicators
NESA
Share of urban population in ASEM, 1996–2014 (% of total
population)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ASEM
EU
Norway and Switzerland (1)
ASEAN
NESA
(1) Norway and Switzerland are ASEM members since 2012.
Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects
Population in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants in
ASEM, 1996–2014 (% of total population)
25.0
22.5
20.0
17.5
15.0
12.5
10.0
7.5
5.0
2.5
0.0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ASEM
EU
Norway and Switzerland (1)
ASEAN
NESA
(1) Norway and Switzerland are ASEM members since 2012.
Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects
Mobile phone penetration in ASEM, 1996–2014
(subscriptions per thousand inhabitants)
1 400
1 200
1 000
800
600
400
200
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ASEM
EU
Norway and Switzerland (1)
ASEAN
NESA
(1¹) Norway and Switzerland are ASEM members since 2012
Source: International Telecommunication Union
Internet users in ASEM, internet use in the last 12 months,
1996–2014 (% of the population)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ASEM
EU
Norway and Switzerland (1)
ASEAN
NESA
(1) Norway and Switzerland are ASEM members since 2012
Source: Eurostat (online data code: isoc_ci_ifp_iu) for EU, Norway and Switzerland;
International Telecommunication Union for other ASEM partners
ASEM gross domestic product at market prices, by
enlargement round (billion current EUR)
35 000
30 000
25 000
20 000
15 000
10 000
5 000
0
1996
EU (1)
2004
2008
2010
Norway and Switzerland (2)
2012
ASEAN (3)
2014
NESA
(1) Malta not available for 2014; (2) Norway and Switzerland are ASEM members since
2012; (3) Myanmar only available from 2012 onwards
Source: World Bank national accounts data, OECD national accounts data
GDP per capita in ASEM, 1996 and 2014 (current USD)
9 916
36 403
2014
90 109
4 044
6 693
7 391
24 908
1996
1 677
4 443
0
10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 90,000 100,000
ASEM
EU (1)
Norway and Switzerland (2)
ASEAN (3)
NESA
(1) Malta not available for 2014; (2) Norway and Switzerland are ASEM members since
3
2012; ( ) Myanmar not available for 1996
Source: WorldBank national accounts data and OECD national accounts data
The future of
the Asia-Europe Meeting
(ASEM)
Looking ahead into ASEM’s third decade
The future of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM): Looking
ahead into ASEM’s third decade
KS-01-16-543-EN-N
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
For information on the Asia-Europe Meeting:
ASEM Infoboard: http://www.aseminfoboard.org
This project is funded by the European Union
ASEM At 20
the challenge of connectivity
ASEM at 20: The challenge of connectivity
Autumn 2015
Media partner
With the support of
Eurostat cooperation resources
For information on Eurostat’s statistical cooperation activities: http://
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/international-statistical-cooperation/
overview
E-mail: ESTAT-STATISTICAL-COOPERATION@ec.europa.eu
Asia-Europe meeting
(ASEM)
A stAtisticAl portrAit
2016 edition
Asia-Europe Meeting
A statistical portrait
2016 edition
ISSN 2315-0815
Essential SNA: Building the basics
2014 edition
Essential SNA:
Building the basics
2014 edition
s tat i s t i c a l
books
Compact guides
Snapshot
A user-friendly tool to assess the
strengths and weaknesses of
National Statistical Systems
Snapshot
A user-friendly tool to
assess National Statistical
Systems
Guide to statistics in
European Commission
development cooperation
2013 edition
See ‘Statistics explained’ for further insight into Eurostat’s international
cooperation activities:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/NonEU_countries
See in particular the article ‘Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) - a statistical
portrait - key facts’
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/AsiaEurope_Meeting_%28ASEM%29_-_a_statistical_portrait_-_key_facts
See also
European External Action Service (EEAS):
http://eeas.europa.eu
ISBN 978-92-79-58771-9 doi:10.2785/34709
© European Union, 2016
Cover: © shutterstock.com