The ASEM Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) was held in Beijing 29-30 June. Chinese Senior Official for ASEM, Ambassador Wang Xuexian chaired the meeting. The meeting focused on substantive preparations for the 7th ASEM Summit.

ASEM was founded in 1996. It served as an inter-governmental forum between Asia and Europe, aiming to promote mutual understanding and trust through political dialogue, economic and trade cooperation and social and cultural exchanges and help establish a new and comprehensive partnership between Asia and Europe. ASEM has 45 members, including 10 ASEAN member states, the ASEAN Secretariat, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Partisan, 27 European Union member states and the European Commission. The 7th ASEM Summit will be held 24-25 October in Beijing.