Friends' Group

During the Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Hamburg in 2007 Lithuania initiated to hold the first ever ASEM Transport Ministers' Meeting (ASEM TMM). The initiative was welcomed by all ASEM member countries. Moreover, Lithuania's initiative was joined by China, Germany, Poland, Singapore, Sweden, Vietnam and the European Commission. The mentioned countries were called the "Friends' Group".

The members of the "Friends' group" are the representatives of the following institutions:

• Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania;
• Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China;
• Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs of Germany;
• Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland;
• Ministry of Transport of Singapore;
• Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications of Sweden;
• Ministry of Transport of Vietnam;
• European Commision.

Objectives

"Friends' Group" has teamed up to properly prepare for Asia-Europe Transport Ministers' Meeting as well as Asia-Europe Transport Development Forum.

Meetings

By now two "Friends' Group" meetings took place: the first one on 29 September 2008, in Vilnius and the second one on 9-10, March 2009, in Beijing, China.