In 1997, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) was established by Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Partners as its only permanent institution. The Foundation seeks to promote understanding, strengthen relationships and facilitate cooperation amongst the people, institutions and organisations of Asia and Europe.
In 2020, we had to adjust our methodologies and persevere through the uncertainty brought about by COVID-19. We accelerated our digitalisation plans. We re-designed and delivered projects in both virtual and hybrid formats as we strived to remain a convenor of topical conversations and a core facilitator of people-to-people exchanges between both continents.
2021 marks ASEM’s 25th year anniversary and ASEF’s 24th. Despite the good news on the development of COVID-19 vaccines, we still foresee the continuation of the impact from the pandemic. This makes the role of ASEF in helping to connect the various sectors and peoples in the two continents even more important.
We thank all our partners, donors, participants and friends for joining us in our journey last year, and we invite you to look back at 2020 via our Annual Report which is also in a digital format.
We look forward to working closely with you this year in bringing Asians and Europeans together.