OREANDA-NEWS. September 30, 2010. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov will attend the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Brussels on October 4-5. ASEM is a dialogue mechanism designed to forge multifaceted cooperation between Asian and European countries. At the meeting, Russia will formally join the group.

The overarching theme of the summit is how to ensure greater prosperity and more dignity for all citizens. Participants will also discuss current issues, such as how to overcome the effects of the global financial and economic crisis, sustainable development, global and regional issues, people-to-people contacts, and streamlining ASEM activities. The agreed-upon approaches to their solution will presumably be reflected in the ASEM 8 Chair's Statement and the Declaration of the ASEM 8 Summit on moving towards more effective global economic governance in connection with the global economic crisis.

Russia intends to make an active contribution to ASEM activities in the interests of strengthening friendship, understanding and cooperation between the peoples of Asia and Europe and ensuring security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic and Asia-Pacific regions.