MILAN, Italy, Oct. 15  -- As the biennial Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit is to kick off here Thursday afternoon, closer Asia-Europe connectivity, practical cooperation and coordination on global issues are expected to garner world attention.

According to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong, the meeting, with the theme of "Building a Responsible Partnership and Promoting Sustainable Growth and Security," has an agenda including enhancing connectivity and economic and financial cooperation between Asia and Europe and coordinating efforts to address global issues.

ENHANCING CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN ASIA, EUROPE

The two-day summit will formally accept Kazakhstan and Croatia as its members, making the ASEM a 53-member forum with enhanced influence, the senior Chinese diplomat said.

It is also the first time for Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to attend the summit since taking office last March. Li will address the opening ceremony Thursday afternoon.

Analysts said China's initiative of peaceful and inclusive development, and its policies on global and regional issues are expected to be the focus of Li's speech.

Specifically, the Chinese premier will put forward cooperation initiatives and expound the country's stance on maintaining the international order, building an open global economy, and strengthening Asia-Europe practical cooperation, and according to the vice foreign minister.

China, a founding member of the ASEM, has sent its premiers to all the previous summits and put forward 25 initiatives in total on the Asia-Europe cooperation in such areas of scientific and technological innovation, energy conservation, environmental protection, sustainable development, economy, trade and investment, and urbanization.

All attendees are expected to tap cooperative potentials based on their development strategies, innovate cooperation forms, make more progresses in economy, trade, investment and connectivity cooperation, so as to make the development of Asian and European countries more robust, the Chinese vice foreign minister said.

"The ASEM summit has offered a good opportunity to bring the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road conceptions to Asia-Europe cooperation," said Cui Hongjian, director of the Department for European Studies of the China Institute of International Studies.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said last month that Asian market offers incomparable investment and trade opportunities for European companies.

Asian growth has fueled the world economy when Europe was struggling with fiscal stability and low growth rates, he added.

For Asia, Europe is still the primary export destination and a source of technological innovation. The two economies become more interdependent as Europe is fighting to overcome social and economic structural challenges, and many Asian nations are to revise their growth models that fit the dramatic transformation of their societies, said the EU leader.

ADDRESSING GLOBAL ISSUES TOGETHER

"Our interdependency goes way beyond economic ties. Our security is interlinked," said Van Rompuy, noting the two sides, faced with common challenges such as fighting religious extremism and terrorism, can only achieve success through joint efforts and communication.

"It is in this broad context ... that we appreciate the ASEM's role. It has the added value of public diplomacy, of stressing the importance of cooperation and the common interests that bind us all," he said.

He noted that there is no sustainable growth without security, or security without sustainable growth.

The Chinese vice foreign minister said the common threats such as climate change, terrorism and infectious diseases require both sides to reinforce communication and cooperation, seek policy convergence and intensify coordination.

"The ASEM should serve as an effective framework and platform for Asia and Europe to join hands to address global challenges," he noted.

As the ASEM will embrace its 20th anniversary in 2016, all members are expected to strive for new progress in cooperation form and mechanism building, in a bid to improve efficiency and lay a solid foundation for further cooperation in the future, he said.

The ASEM, founded in 1996, is a high-level and large-scale inter-governmental platform of dialogues and cooperation between the two continents.

This summit, hosted in Italy, will be chaired by Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.