In March 1996, fifteen European leaders, ten East Asian leaders and the President of the European Commission convened in Bangkok, Thailand, for the inaugural Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). At this historic ASEM Summit, the leaders from the two continents agreed to forge a comprehensive partnership and strengthen links between the two regions for mutual benefit. Since the 5th ASEM Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam (October 2004), the membership has expanded to 39 to include the 10 accession states of the European Union as well as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

The Meeting, among other agenda, called for the strengthening of cultural links between Asia and Europe, particularly the fostering of closer people-to-people contacts, which is indispensible to the promotion of greater awareness and understanding between the peoples of both regions at the civil society level.

To carry out the mission set out by the leaders, the ASEM Foreign Ministers Meeting (Singapore) launched the Asia Europe Foundation on 15 February 1997. Its mission - to promote understanding between the peoples of Asia and Europe through intellectual, cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

ASEF is funded by voluntary contributions from the governments of ASEM countries and the European Commission. Most of the projects are also supported financially by partner institutions and private enterprises.

The decision making body of ASEF is the Board of Governors , consisting of 39 high-profile individuals nominated by member governments yet acting independently. The Board of Governors sets out policy directions of ASEF.

The members of ASEF, who are also members of ASEM consist of Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Vietnam and the European Commission.