ABSTRACT
This explains why Asia-Europe economic relations are also complemented by a longstanding tradition of political interaction, which – apart from the various bilateral relations – has basically taken on two institutional forms:
1 inter-organizational cooperation (EU-ASEAN) between the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) dating back to the early 1970s;
2 the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) established in 1996.
