Dear AIB readers,

As we approach the end of 2025, we thought it would be timely to recap and take stock of key ASEM developments and AIB initiatives over the course of the year.  ASEF maintains the ASEM InfoBoard (AIB), keeping it updated and accessible to inform about the ASEM Process and support Asia–Europe cooperation.

On the ASEM front, ASEM held its first Education Senior Officials Meeting in Bucharest, Romania from 18 to 19 November 2025.  The ASEM-Duo exchange programmes for students/academics/researchers continued to be published for Korea, Sweden and Cimea_Italy.  

For ASEF, we ran for the first time, a full year of the initiative “Topic of the Month (TOM)”, curating topics for the last 11 months that we hoped would interest readers from Asia and Europe.  Leveraging key events and developments affecting both regions, we covered topics such as Poland’s EU Presidency (January), Innovation and Research (April), Green Finance (October) and ended off with a forward-looking topic on Youth Engagement (November), in recognition that the youth have a role today in shaping their future for tomorrow.  The three most-viewed topics were Poland’s EU Presidency, Economic Resilience and Green Finance. 

We also launched the AIB pilot podcast series and published three podcasts.  Building on the January TOM, the first one featured Poland’s EU Presidency and its impact on Asia-Europe relations (March).  Then we turned to public health and the looming threat of Anti-Microbial Resistance (June). Finally, in conjunction with the UNFCCC COP30, we put the spotlight on Green Finance (November) to help increase understanding of its potential and constraints for climate action.  For the podcasts, we invited NGOs, experts and officials from Asia and Europe to share their perspectives.  We are encouraged by the rising number of listeners.

We would like to thank all our readers for visiting the AIB website and social media.  We look forward to your continued interest and support.  In 2026, we will continue to inform you about the ASEM process.  We will also continue with the TOM and regularise the AIB podcast series, with four podcasts slated for next year.  In this regard, your input and feedback are important to help us identify topics which will be relevant, catalyse meaningful discussions and help foster mutual understanding between the people in both regions. 

Finally, It leaves us to wish you all a very Happy, Healthy and Fulfilling 2026. See you next year!