Chinese premier, French president meet on deepening ties

BEIJING - The Tenth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit will open on Thursday in Milan, Italy under the theme of "Responsible Partnership for Sustainable Growth and Security."

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is scheduled to attend the two-day summit at the invitation of European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and European Commission President Jos Manuel Barroso.

Launched in 1996,the biennial ASEM summit has served as a venue for dialogue between Asian and European countries. Including the European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat, members of the ASEM will expand to 53 after the expected accession of Kazakhstan and Croatia at this summit.

The following are the previous nine ASEM summits in chronological order.

On March 1-2, 1996, the First ASEM summit was held in the Thai capital of Bangkok under the theme of "Promoting the Establishment of All-round, New Asia-Europe Partnership."

On April 3-4, 1998, the Second ASEM summit was held in London, focusing on issues of the Asian financial crisis.

On Oct 20-21, 2000, the Third ASEM summit took place in Seoul, South Korea themed "Establish Stable and Prosperous Asia-Europe Partnership in New Millennium."

On Sept 22-24, 2002, the Fourth ASEM summit was convened in Copenhagen, Denmark with the theme "Unity in Diversity."

On Oct 6-9, 2004, the Fifth ASEM summit was held in Hanoi, Vietnam themed "Further Revitalize and Strengthen Asia-Europe Partnership."

On Sept 10-11, 2006, the Sixth ASEM summit was held in Helsinki, Finland under the theme of "10 Years of ASEM: Global Challenges-Joint Responses."

On Oct 24-25, 2008, the Seventh ASEM summit took place in Beijing under the theme of "Dialogue and Cooperation: Mutual Benefit and Win-Win."

On Oct 4-5, 2010, the Eighth ASEM summit was held in Brussels themed "Quality of Life: How to Ensure Prosperity and More Dignity for all Citizens."

On Nov 5-6, 2012, the Ninth ASEM summit was held in the Lao capital of Vientiane under the theme of "Friends for Peace, Partners for Prosperity."