ABSTRACT

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) was established in February 1997 by the members of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). The ASEF is funded by contributions from the member governments, but the cost of many of its projects are shared by other institutions as well as private corporations of ASEM countries. The ASEF seeks to promote better mutual understanding between the peoples of Asia and Europe through greater intellectual, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges. One way ASEF carries out its mandate is by creating its own projects. Some of these initiatives include Asia-Europe Lecture, Asia-Europe Young Artists' Painting Competition and Exhibition, Informal Human Rights Seminar, Asia-Europe Youth Co-operation Network, and ASEF Editors' Roundtable. Having completed over 350 projects directly involving 17,000 people to date, ASEF always seeks to work in partnership with other institutions and private sector entities to ensure its work is broad-based and spread as widely as possible throughout ASEM member countries.