The ninth Summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting, which will open on Monday in Ventiane, Laos, brings together 51 leaders from Europe and Asia. Sixteen years after the launch in 1996 of this successful forum of dialogue and cooperation, Europe, Asia and the world have changed significantly. Asian nations have become strong economic players, lifting hundred of millions of people out of poverty, and gaining self-confidence on the world stage. In Europe, countries from the East and West have joined forces in an enlarged European Union turning it into the most ambitious and developed political expression of our continent in its history. Globalization, inter-dependence, redistribution of power, pressure over natural resources are among the key trends shaping the 21st century.

Against this scenario, European-Asian relations are today more relevant than ever. It is not surprising that five of the EU's strategic partners are ASEM participants, with which we meet regularly and at the highest levels, and that on the occasion of the Vientiane Summit we will be visiting Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, and will have numerous bilateral meetings with our fellow Asian leaders.

Building on these dense relations, our discussions in Vientiane in the next two days will concentrate around three key objectives.