Sixth Annual Conference and General Meeting, Madrid, Spain, September 2007
The Sixth Annual Conference and General Meeting will take place from 2 to 7 September 2007 in Madrid, Spain. The event is co-organised by ASEFUAN, the Research Unit on International Security and Cooperation (UNISCI) at the Universidad Complutense Madrid and the Asia-Europe Foundation. It is also being supported by Casa Asia, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Universidad de Zaragoza.
The Research Unit on International Security and Cooperation (UNISCI), founded in 1989, is one of Complutense University of Madrid’s research groups (www.ucm.es/info/unisci/). UNISCI members include more than twenty Professors and Research Fellows specialized in the field of International Security.
The theme for the event is ASEF@10 - Achieving Human Security: Inter-regional Co-operation and Global Impact. The programme includes a 1-day conference on human security, a panel discussion on the role of ASEFUAN in sustaining the Asia-Europe dialogue, working group sessions for the development of projects and activities, the election of a new Executive Committee for the coming year and the outlining of a new working programme for 2007/08.
Conference programme
A copy of the conference programme is available for download. For more information about the conference, please contact David Garcia Cantalapiedra or Gracia Abad at agm2007@asefuan.net.
ASEF@10
The Asia-Europe Foundation (www.asef.org) is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2007. Over the past decade, ASEF has implemented over 310 projects, bringing together more than 13,500 participants and reaching out to an even wider audience in Asia and Europe. These projects include conferences, lecture tours, workshops, seminars, the creation of web-based platforms and, most importantly, the establishment of permanent, bi-regional networks focused on issues pertinent to reinforcing Asia-Europe relations.
ASEF University is one of the foundation's flagship programmes and ASEFUAN its most active alumni network. In recognition of the 10-year anniversary, the theme of this year's conference will be under the overarching theme of ASEF@10, joining a range of other activities to mark the anniversary. This year we are also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the European Union and 40 years of ASEAN.
Achieving Human Security: Inter-regional Co-operation and Global Impact
The notion of Human Security was first introduced in the United Nations Development Programme's 1994 Human Development Report. The UNDP report argued that the scope of global security should be expanded to include threats in seven areas: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security. A panel discussion during the conference will provide an opportunity to examine what has been achieved through co-operation between Asia and Europe over the past decade and to look ahead at some of the challenges that we still face.
Activities and projects
The conference will be an important occasion for the members to review ASEFUAN projects and activities and present a roadmap for the coming year. Also to be highlighted are the preparations for the Model ASEM Summit to be held at the sidelines of ASEM VII in Beijing, China in 2008.
Cultural programme
In keeping with the ASEF University’s tradition, the six-day conference promises to be an equally rich cultural experience, being held in the grand metropolis of Madrid, and with organised trips to historic and scenic Toledo, Cordoba and Sevilla.