By Zhang Ning, Thai Thanhvan     

    HANOI, Oct. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- A 30-year-old Hanoi downtown shop assistant looks very happy these days as her face always carries the glory for her nation's host of one of the world's largest events -- ASEM 5.

    "We are very proud as the ASEM 5 will take place in the capital," Nguyen told Xinhua while cleaning up her grocery.

    Nguyen is one of residents in Vietnam's capital who are eagerly expecting the upcoming 5th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the largest international event ever held in the once war-rattled nation.

    An informal forum for 38 states and the European Commission (EC), the biennial meeting is supposed to discuss serious issues like trade, cultural relations and counter-terror cooperation.

    However, one can only smell a scent of jubilance as the city with an around 2.8 million population is being jazzed up by "the big party" scheduled from Friday to Saturday.

    In the cool autumn breeze and the cozy autumn sunshine, flamboyant flags and posters, featuring greetings to the delegations, are cropped up all over the streets. At the downtown traffic intersections, pots of fresh flowers are exquisitely spotted, presenting the logo of the meeting -- ASEM 5.

    At venues such as the Ba Dinh Hall, a grandeur national meetinghall, and the International Convention Center, where the summit'sopening ceremony and main discussions are to take place, national flags of ASEM members and placards carrying the meeting's logo arefluttering.

    "We know that the ASEM 5 is a good opportunity to showcase Vietnam to Asian and European countries and we are expecting it," said Nguyen Ngoc Ha, an undergraduate of the National Economics University.

    Laborers were busy making up the face of the city in last-minute work Wednesday. Around the meeting localities, roads are being repaved and new light systems installed.

    "I have never seen the city so beautiful and splendid," Nguyen Quoc Khanh, a 60-year-old retired factory worker, told Xinhua.

    Meanwhile, government-sponsored promotion activities are being held across the city. Contests on geographic and cultural backgrounds of Asia and Europe are held at schools.

    The host country has also brought in foreign artists to displaythe exotic charms of the ASEM member states. Functions like the Asia-Europe Film Festival, fashion shows, open-air music concerts have been driving the hosts crazy.

    A recent fashion show with the participation of 450 models from Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, all of which are ASEM members, caught thousands of eye balls in Hanoi.

    Commenting on the catwalk miracle, Nguyen Ngoc Quyen, a 20-year-old college student, noted joyfully, "I got to know nine ASEM states at one night."

    The most seething atmosphere, however, would possibly be breathed at hotels. Melia, a five-star, has imported all food, drinks, and appliances like spoons, folks, plates from overseas toprepare for a dinner party to be hosted by the Vietnamese president.

    By Thursday, all of 11,000 hotel rooms, including 4,500 at three-five star levels, have been fully booked, Tran Huu Binh, deputy director of Hanoi Tourism Department said.

    The ASEM is expected to produce a fresh boom for the partnership between Asia and Europe in economic, political and cultural sectors. And Hanoi, as well as the other 38 members, is awaiting the boom. Enditem¡¡