Lithuania in ASEM

Lithuania in ASEM

Lithuania joined ASEM in 2004 during the 5th ASEM summit in Hanoi. ASEM info board

Priority Areas and Initiatives of Lithuania in ASEM Process

Transport

The first initiative of Lithuania to the ASEM process was to propose to establish ASEM dialoge on transport. As a result the 1st ASEM Transport Ministers’ Meeting was held on 19-20 October 2009 in Vilnius, cosponsored by China, Singapore, Sweden and Slovenia. Ever since then ASEM ministers in charge of transportation meet on a regular basis. The 2nd meeting was held in 2011 in China, the 3rd meeting on 29-30 April 2015 in Latvia. The 4th ASEM Transport Ministers’ Meeting will be held in 2017 in Indonesia.

Nuclear Safety

During the Lithuanian presidency of the European Union Council on 4-5 November 2013 the 2nd ASEM Seminar on Nuclear Safety was held in Vilnius. It‘s theme was “International Instruments for Ensuring Nuclear Safety”, it was co-sponsored by Japan and Singapore. The 1st ASEM Seminar on Nuclear Safety was hosted by the Republic of Singapore in 2012. After Lithuanian seminar was followed by ASEM Seminars held in Indonesia in 2014 and in Spain in 2015.

Women Empowerment

The 12th ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting in 2015 has endorsed Lithuania’s initiative to include the topic of women’s economic empowerment into ASEM agenda. Therefore, the 1st ASEM conference under the theme “Women’s Economic Empowerment: Creating Equal Opportunities in the World of Work” will be held on 25-26 May in Vilnius at the Mykolas Romeris University. The event is co-sponsored by the governments of Japan, Sweden, Romania, Philippines, Vietnam, Croatia, Mongolia and China.

In 2015 Lithuania was a co-sponsor of Japan initiative to take a lead for the promotion of tourism between Asia and Europe and to host the ASEM Symposium on Promoting Tourism.

Lithuania in Asia - Europe Foundation (ASEF)

Every year dozens of Lithuanian representatives such as university delegates, journalists, leaders of youth organizations and artists participate in various events hosted by ASEF.

In May 2011 Lithuania hosted the 26th ASEF Board of Governors Meeting.

ASEF Executive Director Mr. Zhang Yan visited Lithuania on 23 September 2013 to attend architectural symposium „Lithuania – Japan Architectural Event EAST-EAST 4“ which took place in Kaunas. The event was organised by Lithuania in cooperation with Japan and ASEF.

The 2013 Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) Advisory Committee Meeting was held at the Mykolas Romeris University on 28-29 November 2013 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Main facts on Lithuania‘s Participation in the Meetings and Events by ASEM

The Prime Minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevičius, participated in the 11th ASEM Summit which was held on 15-16 July 2016 in Ulaanbaatar.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius participated at the most recent ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting on 5-6 November 2015 in Luxembourg, the next meeting is expected to be held in the fall of 2017 in Myanmar.

Lithuania’s ministries also takes part in the ASEM Ministerial Meetings held on environmental, cultural, educational, financial and labor issues. The last ASEM Environment Ministers' Meeting was held on 22-23 May 2012 in Ulaanbaatar. The 7th ASEM Culture Ministers‘ Meeting was held on 22-24 June 2016 in Korea and the 5th ASEM Education Ministers‘ Meeting was held on 27-28 April 2015 in Riga, Latvia.

Regular ASEM Forums are also held for members of parliament, the business sector and civil society. 9th Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting (ASEP 9) was held on 21-22 April 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, 15th Asia-Europe Business Forum (AEBF 15) was held on 13-14 July in Ulaanbaatar in line with ASEM11. 10th  Asia-Europe Peoples' Forum (AEPF 10) was held on 10-12 October in Milan under the title “Towards a Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe – Building States of Citizens for Citizens“. On 6-10 July 2016 a youth conference “Model ASEM“ was held  in Ulaanbaatar which includes members of youth and student organisations (Lithuanian representatives also attended the event).

Lithuanian experts also joion various ASEM conferences, expert forums and seminars on issues like security, fight against terrorism, science and technology, IT, migration, human rights. Two education programs are also part of the ASEM education process: ASEM Education Hubs (a program dedicated to student exchange initiated by Singapore in 1998,), as well as ASEM Duo (a program in purpose of academic exchanges between professors and students commenced in 2001).