Chinese Association for International Understanding

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AEPF 10-A Meeting to Enhance Understanding and Cooperation


Liu Dan Milan, a city endowed with the perfect mixture of fashion, antiquity, romance and simplicity. I had the honor to come to this world-renowned city for the 10th Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) held on 10-12 October on behalf of the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU) with representatives of other Chinese NGOs including China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE), Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD), China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD), and Liaoning Provincial NGO Network for International Exchanges. AEFP is a non-governmental event sponsored and participated by NGOs from member countries under the framework of Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). The first AEFP was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1996, since then 9 forums have been held biennially as an Alternative Summit to the ASEM in London, Seoul, Copenhagen, Hanoi, Helsinki, Beijing, Brussels and Vientiane. The issues discussed concern peace and security, economy and society, democracy and human rights. This forum was co-hosted by AEFP International Organizing Committee and Italian National Organizing Committee under the title “Towards a Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe-Building States of Citizens for Citizens”, with the aim at promoting NGOs, scholars and parliamentarians of Asian and European countries to join hands for social movements, frontline communities and campaigning networks. Over 300 experts, scholars and NGO representatives from 40-plus Asian and European countries attended the event. The opening ceremony was special. To help representatives understand the scourge of war, the organizing committee invited several African refugees to tell their experience of fleeing to Lampedusa Island, Italy and to condemn the armed conflicts and wars that inflicted great loss of life and property as well as the mental trauma. The opening ceremony was followed by 5 thematic plenaries and 25 parallel workshops. The themes of the plenaries included sustainable development, food security, social security, peace and security, trade and investment. The workshops discussed issues concerning free trade agreement negotiations, tourism governance, armed conflicts, protection of women’s rights, nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, UN Education post 2015-Agenda, and People’s Social Agenda in the ASEAN. Representatives can choose workshops to attend according to their own interests and concerns. In speeches and discussions, it is a common understanding among representatives that peace and security are important prerequisites for Asian and European countries to realize human rights, justice and sustainable development. Countries should reduce military expenditure, destroy nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Conflicting parties should settle international disputes peacefully through political means and in accordance with international laws. Social security, as the fundamental guarantee to ensure human dignity, empowerment and sustainable development, is not only politically, economically and socially relevant, but also countries’ due legal obligation to their citizens. The development of civil society and enhancement of cooperation is a hot topic in the forum. It is believed that the forum, through 20 years of efforts, has contributed to the improvement of relations between the civil society and governments in Asia and Europe. Civil society can participate in governments’ administration and decision-making of state affairs more deeply and widely, playing increasingly positive role in such a process. Despite facing different challenges, the two continents-Asia and Europe have a lot of common interests. Therefore, the two sides should further strengthen cooperation, formulate strategies and agenda frameworks of social security to address existing global economic and social structural problems. Mme. Yue Yanghua, Deputy Secretary-General of CNIE briefed the audience on China’s policies and practice of social security in workshop “Social Protection: Essential Services and Social Security for All” and received favorable comment. Other members of the Chinese delegation also actively participated in discussions and widely contacted representatives from various countries. In addition, the delegation presented a calligraphy work of a famous Chinese calligrapher Yu Baoxiang to the forum organizing committee as souvenir. I participated in two plenaries and several workshops and had in-depth exchanges with representatives from Vietnam, the Philippines, India and the Netherlands. In exchange for materials from other organizations, I distributed CAFIU leaflets and English magazines to representatives from many countries. In my exchanges with others, I discovered that most Asian representatives thought increasing attention were put to citizen rights and social security in their respective countries, and the level of social security is steadily improving, while in contrast, the European representatives are more pessimistic and tended to be worried about high unemployment rate and surging poor population, in particular the lowering social security level in their own countries and the whole Europe as a result of governments’ reduction of social welfare since the 2008 international financial crisis. During the forum, what impressed me most is the healthy attitude of enjoying clean “slow life” that all representatives are sharing apart from the social-political concepts such as freedom, equality, fairness and justice. The forum was held in La Fabbrica del Vapore Art Center, a venue without WIFI network, with the special purpose to create a “clean” meeting environment without any interference. Apart from several volunteers, the meeting had no staff. Representatives managed and served themselves. They helped each other and refused wastefulness to practice the concept of energy conservation, environmental protection, low-carbon life and zero-waste. Instead of using disposable plates during the tea break, many representatives put their food on napkins, and some brought their own bottles to the meeting. But some arrangements were not so desirable: as many workshops were held in a short period of time, attendance at various venues was quite imbalanced. Some workshops were so popular that the chairperson had to cancel the breaks while some others were poorly attended. With time running fast, the two-and-half day forum quickly approached to its end. On the closing ceremony, representatives adopted the 10th Asia-Europe People’s Forum Final Declaration to provide suggestion for the 10th ASEM summit. Watching Milan gradually disappear through the window on board the plane back, I was filled with joy and expectation. I felt happy because I increased knowledge, broadened vision and made a lot of new friends in the forum. I expected the Chinese delegation can share more success experience with representatives of other countries in the next forum, thus making greater contribution to enhancing the mutual understanding and friendly cooperation between the Chinese people and people all over the world with a view to maintaining world peace and promoting common development.