HANOI, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Leaders from the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) countries opened their fifth summit here Friday to further push the process of political dialogue, economic cooperation and cultural exchanges between the two continents.

    Host country Vietnam's President Tran Duc Luong announced the opening of the fifth ASEM summit at the opening ceremony held at the Ba Dinh Hall in Hanoi.

    "I now have the honor to formally declare open ASEM 5," Tran Duc Luong said in his opening address.

    "I sincerely wish our summit meeting success, meeting the expectations of the people on our two continents," he said at the ceremony, which started with a music performance.

    He said that ASEM 5 has the significant mandate to work out suitable measures and steps to reach the goal reflected in its over-arching and consistent theme, "Further Revitalizing and Substantiating Asia-Europe partnership."

    "The Hanoi summit should convey a strong message of the leaders' determination, long-term vision and commitment to concrete actions so as to bring the ASEM process to a new development stagetoward a comprehensive Asia-Europe partnership."

    Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for expansion of cooperation under the ASEM framework with the spirit of "solidarity and partnership," strengthened effective multilateralism.

    "We should further promote the revitalization of cooperation within ASEM. We must start taking concrete measures to achieve closer economic partnership as well as to cope with the issue of cultural diversity in the era of globalization," Koizumi, whose country serves as one of the coordinators from Asia, said in his address at the ceremony.

    European Commission President Romano Prodi said the summit willachieve several significant results.

    "It will allow us to confirm our joint commitment to work together in all major multilateral fora, in particular on securityissues, international trade or global environmental challenges," Prodi said.

    Acting Prime Minister of Denmark Per Stig Moller stressed the role of the United Nations and the importance of multilateralism.

    "Europe and Asia share the interest of creating effective multilateralism as the means of sustaining and strengthening International Law," said Moller, whose state hosted the last ASEM summit.

    He also noted the importance of cultural dialogue and people-to-people contacts between the two continents while calling for strengthened trade and investment relations.

    Attending the meeting are leaders from 13 Asian states -- China,Japan, South Korea and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- and the 25 members of the European Union (EU) as well as the European Commission.

    Among them are leaders from 13 new members of ASEM, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar from ASEAN and the 10 new member states of the EU.The 13 nations were officially admitted to ASEM on Thursday.

    The leaders are expected to discuss issues such as fight against terrorism, the United Nations' role, measures to strengthen Asia-Europe partnership through concrete programs and cooperation plans, as well as cultural exchanges between the two continents.

    The two-day meeting is expected to adopt a declaration on closer ASEM economic partnership, a declaration on dialogue among culture and civilizations and a chairman's statement.

    Host Vietnam has contributed great efforts to the preparation for the meeting, including reinforced security in the capital city.     

    ASEM is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation betweenAsia and Europe with an objective of strengthening the relationship between the two regions.

    Since its founding in Thailand in 1996, it has held summit every two years alternating their location between Asia and Europe.Enditem