Published on: 04 Oct 2010

BEIJING, Oct. 4, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- The Eighth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) will start Monday in the Belgian capital of Brussels with discussions on its main theme -- "Quality of Life: How to Ensure Greater Prosperity and More Dignity for All Citizens."

Since 1996, the biennial ASEM summit has provided a forum for dialogue between Asian and European countries, with the partners representing around 58 percent of the worlds's population, 50 percent of global GDP and more than 60 percent of international commerce.

The following are the previous seven ASEM summits and their respective themes.

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

The Second ASEM summit was held in London April 3-4, 1998, focusing on the issue of how to cope with the Asian financial (NYSE:DYP) crisis.

The Third ASEM summit was held in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 20-21, 2000, with the theme "Establish Stable and Prosperous Asia-Europe Partnership in New Millennium."

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

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

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

The Seventh ASEM summit was held in Beijing on Oct. 24-25, 2008, under the theme "Dialogue and Cooperation: Mutual Benefit and Win-Win".

(Source: iStockAnalyst )