ASEM (the Asia-Europe Meeting) is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation bringing together fifteen EU Member States and the European Commission, with ten Asian countries (Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). The ASEM dialogue that started in 1996 addresses political, economic and cultural issues, with the objective of strengthening the relationships between our two regions, in a spirit of mutual respect and equal partnership.

The ASEM People's Forum V took place in Hanoi, ahead of the Summit, during the second week of September 2004 and addressed issues of common interests for the people in ASEM member countries. Under the general motto: "People's actions for human security in Asia and Europe", three main themes were addressed:

The registered number of participants (about 800), at the "ASEM Peoples' Forum V" in Hanoi exceeded all expectation. In addition, more than 100 journalists also registered to attend the Forum. The foreign participants were numerous.

How come? In my opinion, this was an opportunity to be able to touch VN - a communist country - with lots of news related to human rights and democracy. Many were willing to see what would happen. The Vietnamese authorities also wanted to show their open policy: "Make friends with everybody", so they participated in the organization with great carefulness and very good control capacity.

Most of the Vietnamese participants belonged to the central and local People's Aid Coordinating Committee (PACCOM), official unions and religious representatives, so as to show that Vietnam has a policy of religious freedom. A small number of participants belonged to HCM City citizen's groups. Participants from Hanoi, where there are a lot of local NGOs, were very few.

The issues mentioned in the Forum were wide and numerous. But, in my opinion, "Democratization and People's Rights" were quite attractive. There were many contributions and questions regarding Vietnamese realities, such as the "one party" issue, human rights situations or why Vietnam wanted to join the WTO...

A great number of foreign participants showed a great respect to our Vietnamese country and praised Vietnam for its past experience of having won over the Americans.

Finally, there was a tendency to object to globalization and the "WTO" organization.

The Forum was a precious opportunity for all participants and especially for the Vietnamese officials, to know and widen their views about people's organizations of many countries and the issues offered by the various topics and themes presented publicly.