Background: ASEM and ASEM FNMM

(Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Finance Minister Jin Renqing address at the opening ceremony)

Finance Ministers from 13 Asian, 25 European nations and representatives of the European Commission will gather in north China's Tianjin Municipality on June 26 to discuss various options to help deepen economic and financial ties between the two continents.

It is also the first gathering of finance deputies from Asia and Europe since the ASEM summit meeting, held last October in Hanoi, Vietnam, admitted three Asian countries and another ten European nations to join ASEM.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Finance Minister Jin Renqing addressed the opening ceremony of the sixth ASEM Finance Ministers Meeting.

The Meeting will focus on global economic issues such as the latest oil price hikes, concerns of interest rate increases, and the financial cooperation among countries from Asia and Europe.

The Finance Ministers will also tackle development and poverty relief issues in their regions as an effort to realize the Millennium Development Goals, promoted by the United Nations.

More than 200 representatives are attending the meeting from 39 ASEM member states, and international organizations including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Central Bank.

As an integral part of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), an informal dialogue mechanism established between the two continents in 1996, the Asia-Europe Finance Ministers Meeting (ASEM-FNMM) has attached consistent importance to strengthening inter-regional economic and financial cooperation, intensifying efforts in fighting against poverty and pushing global development and economic growth to a higher level.

In recent years, the global economic and financial situations became increasingly complex. Economic globalization and the unstable international financial market have been exerting more outstanding impact on Asian and European countries.

Against such a backdrop, the ASEM-FNMM is playing an increasingly important role in exploring a suitable economic development paradigm for both continents, exchanging views on regional economic and financial experiences, and conducting dialogue on macroeconomic policies.

The first ASEM-FNMM was held in Bangkok, Thailand in September 1997 and the other four ASEM-FNMMs were convened respectively in Germany's Frankfurt, Japan's Kobe, Denmark's Copenhagen and Indonesia's Bali Island.

The ASEM-FNMM, used to be held every another year, was held once a year since 2000.

(Source: Xinhua/Photo source: CCTV)