November 2025 in Bucharest, Romania. The meeting gathered more than 70 Senior Officials and representatives from 24 ASEM partner countries and eight stakeholder organisations in preparation for the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting of Ministers for Education (ASEMME10), to be hosted in Palawan, the Philippines, in late 2026.
The meeting was opened by Sorin Ștefan Decă, Deputy Secretary General of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, and Adrian Georgescu, Director of the Erasmus+ National Agency. The programme was chaired by Elmira Chengiali and Mădălina Matei of the Ministry of Education and Research, in close cooperation with Prof. Luca Lantero and Vera Lucke of the ASEM Education Secretariat.
SEAMEO RIHED contributed to the keynote session on Regional and Interregional Cooperation in Higher Education, presenting the latest developments on the Southeast Asian Higher Education Common Space—an initiative now transitioning decisively from concept to implementation. The presentation highlighted how the vision first launched by the SEAMEO Council in 2008 has evolved into a coordinated regional effort supported by major milestones, including the Joint Declaration adopted by Southeast Asian Education Ministers in August 2024 and noted by ASEAN Leaders at the ASEAN Summit in October 2024.
ASEM SOM1 additionally featured a series of updates from partners, including the announcement from the Philippine Commission on Higher Education confirming that ASEMME10 will take place in Palawan under the theme “Sustainability and Solidarity: Navigating Our Future Together through Asia–Europe Higher Education Cooperation.” Other notable developments included the handover of the Chairmanship of the ASEM LLL Hub to Thailand, and the announcement of a new ASEM Regional Centre for Central Asia based in Kazakhstan.
