ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) workshop on HIV/AIDS

Back ground:

ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation bringing together the 25 EU member states, the European Commission and 13 Asian countries. Every two-year there is an ASEM-meeting bringing together the political leaders from all the member countries. At the 5th ASEM meeting in Hanoi on 8-9 October 2004, the summit leaders expressed their concerns that the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, through its scale and impact, constitutes a global emergency. They noted that HIV/AIDS provides a formidable challenge to human life and dignity, undermining social and economic development throughout the world and affecting all levels of society. The leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment issued at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in 2001 and they agreed that the fight against HIV/AIDS should feature in the framework of ASEM cooperation.

ASEM WORKSHOP ON HIV/AIDS IN HO CHI MINH CITY 22-23 NOVEMBER

The first step of this commitment was the first ASEM workshop on HIV/AIDS in Ho Chi Minh City 22-23 November 2005 organized by the Vietnamese Government in cooperation with the governments of the Netherlands, the Philippines and Sweden and with technical assistance from UNAIDS in Viet Nam.
The title of the workshop “Learning from each other and moving forward – Asia and Europe together in the fight against HIV/AIDS” was highlighting the need to cooperate and collaborate with neighbouring nations, as well as discuss HIV/AIDS as a part of a regional response to effectively confront the epidemic.

The conference gathered more than 100 participants from 20 countries, half of them Asian and half of the European. The presentations and discussions focused on four main themes:
 
1) Building an Effective National Response to HIV/AIDS,
2) Critical Issues in Emerging Epidemics,
3) Best practices,
4) The next steps – the way forward

Please see the file “ASEM Main Findings and Next Steps Final” for a summary of the discussions.

• List of participants
• All presentations and speeches:
  • Lennart Hjelmaker’s speech [pdf]
• ASEM Main Findings and Next Steps Final [pdf]
   
• Agenda [pdf]
• Update on ASEM workshop on HIV/AIDS presented at the Technical Working group meeting 28 September 2005 [pdf]
• Invitation from Ministry of Health [pdf]