ASEM Day, on 1 March, marks the anniversary of the day in 1996 when the first Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was held 26 years ago. Thailand hosted the 1st ASEM Summit (ASEM 1) on 1-2 March 1996 in Bangkok under the theme "New Comprehensive Asia-Europe Partnership for Greater Growth". The Summit laid the foundation for cooperation between the two regions, covering ASEM’s three pillars, namely, political and security; economic and financial; and social and cultural. Leaders from 25 member countries from both regions attended the Summit and had the opportunity to meet His Majesty King Rama IX.
(More information on ASEM 1 is available at the following website link https://bit.ly/3LTMEBw )

ASEM’s membership has now more than doubled since its inception. The current ASEM membership includes 51 countries and 2 international organisations, i.e., (1) 30 European countries, including the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway; (2) 21 Asian countries, comprising the 10 ASEAN Member States and 11 Northeast Asia and South Asia (NESA) countries (China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Bangladesh and Kazakhstan); and (3) two regional organisations, the EU and the ASEAN Secretariat.

The ASEM Summit takes place every two years. The latest Summit (ASEM 13) took place virtually on 25-26 November 2021 and was hosted by Cambodia. The Prime Minister of Thailand also attended ASEM 13.

Cooperation under the ASEM framework has made significant progress over the past 26 years. Members have made sure to adapt their cooperation strategy to the changing circumstances in order to maximise the welfare of the people in ASEM member countries.

During the latest ASEM Summit, the Leaders focused their dialogue on maximising the benefits of the ASEM framework for the people in ASEM member countries in 3 main areas, which are: (1) sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, including through the exchange of green and digital technology; (2) promoting connectivity between the two regions with special emphasis on people-to-people connectivity, which will support the recovery of the tourism sectors in both regions; and (3) promoting the use of digital technology to facilitate our adaptation to the Next Normal, including through the promotion of virtual student exchanges by making good use of digital technology.