Hosted by: Hungary

 Location: Budapest, Hungary

 Event type: ASEM Initiatives

 Serie: ASEM Sustainable Development Dialogue

Hungary launched the initiative of an ASEM Sustainable Development Dialogue by hosting the first event of the sequence of seminars in 2012 in Budapest, focusing on the "Role of Water in Sustainable Regional Development Strategies". 

The so-called Budapest Initiative enables ASEM Partners to regularly discuss water management related issues. Participating countries agreed to reinforce collective efforts to promote the sustainable use and management of water resources. The overall objective was to ensure the right to access safe drinking water and sanitation, full policy coherence and well-functioning water-related ecosystems. Sharing experience and best practices between macro-regional development strategies such as the Danube Region Strategy or the Greater Mekong Subregion can provide additional benefits for other subregional initiatives by significantly strengthening interregional co-operation capacities.

Taking into consideration the results of the previous ASEM Sustainable Development Dialogues, Hungary has decided to organize the subsequent seminar in 2018 hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We are guided by the ambition to further stimulate the available cooperative mechanisms towards harmonized water resources management in Asia and Europe.

The 7th ASEM Sustainable Development Dialogue, to be held in Budapest in September 2018, will be structured around the following five thematic axes: 

The two-day event is financed by Hungary and hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The organisers expect approximately 150 participants – high-level representatives and experts from ASEM countries, European External Action Service, the European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat, including government officials, scholars, researchers, regional and international institutions/organizations, local authorities as well as the non-governmental and business sectors. The working language of the event will be English. 

Participants from ASEM partners are kindly asked to cover their travel and accommodation expenses. ASEM partners will be requested to delegate speakers to the Seminar, contributing with comments and suggestions to the provisional agenda of the event as well as the final document.