The 3rd Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting (ASEP 3) opened in Vietnam's central Hue city on Thursday morning.
Delegates to the two-day meeting will focus their discussions on four topics, namely economy, Asia-Europe cooperation, politics and security, and cultural identity and diversity.
The meeting is expected to help ASEP, which is an inter-parliamentary dialogue under the framework of the Asia-Europe Meeting process, become a regular parliamentary dialogue forum of Asia and Europe.
The meeting, presided by Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Van An, is also expected to adopt the ASEP 3 Declaration as its official document on Friday afternoon.
Attending the meeting are 111 delegates from some Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members; 15 European Union members, China, Japan, South Korea, and the European Parliament.
The meeting is also attended by six guests from ASEAN-inter parliamentary organization, ASEAN secretariat, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
ASEP 1 and ASEP 2 were held in France in April 1996 and Philippines in August 2002, respectively.