South Korean President to Attend ASEM Summit in Mongolia Next Week

South Korean President Park Geun-hye will embark on a five-day trip to Mongolia next week to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit and hold bilateral talks with her Mongolian counterpart, the presidential office said Monday. 
According to South Korean Yonhap news agency, Park will leave for Ulan Bator on Thursday next week to attend the 11th ASEM summit, slated to take place on July 15 and the following day. Following the group summit, she will begin her official visit to the resource-rich country, which was arranged on the invitation of Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj. 
Under the main theme, "20 years of ASEM: Partnership for the Future through Connectivity," the summit will bring together leaders of more than 50 Asian and European countries, the presidential office said in a press release. 
Seoul officials said that the ASEM summit will provide a venue for in-depth discussions on an array of major regional and international issues including military threats posed by a provocative, nuclear-ambitious North Korea. 
Topping the agenda for the summit is expected to be economic uncertainties, which were triggered by Britain's recent vote to leave the European Union (EU). 
Launched in 1996, ASEM is a consultative body aimed at strengthening cooperation between Asia and Europe in political, economic, social, cultural and other areas. The summit is held biennially, with the last one held in Italy in 2014. 
ASEM consists of 51 member states and 2 regional organizations: the European Union and the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. As of 2015, the grouping represents 63 percent of the world's population and 58 percent of the global gross domestic product. 
From July 17, Park will begin her official visit to the country. It is her first visit to Mongolia since she assumed office in February 2013. Her predecessor Lee Myung-bak visited the country in 2011. 
The president is set to hold summit talks with her Mongolia counterpart on a range of issues to bolster economic cooperation and exchanges in light of their "mutually complementary" economic structures, her office said.

Source ; QNA