Overview

ASEF’s Governance and Economy department aims to provide and communicate quality, actionable inputs for the policy dialogue between Asia and Europe.

Our Goals

• To regularly monitor and analyse developments in Asia-Europe relations in order to identify relevant policy issues where ASEF provides an added value;
• To design and implement programmes responsive to the identified needs of Asia-Europe relations;
• To transform the outcomes of our programmes into inputs actionable for Asia-Europe policy dialogue;
• To disseminate the outcomes of the department project activities to relevant stakeholders

Our Work

The current focus areas of the Governance and Economy Department include:

Governance

• Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights: The largest government-civil society dialogue on human rights issues in Asia and Europe.
  The latest publication of the project is available here.
• Asia-Europe Public Diplomacy Training Initiative: A programme aiming to improve Asia-Europe relations by conducting trainings of young Asian and European diplomats engaged in public diplomacy efforts.
  The latest publication of the project is available here.

Economy

• Asia Europe Economic Forum (AEEF): A consortium of renowned think tanks across Asia and Europe addressing current economic issues and long-term trends impacting Asian and Europe societies

The Governance and Economy Department also coordinates the publication programme “ASEF Outlook Report” developed by ASEF. Published biennially in conjunction with each ASEM Summit, the two-volume publication seeks to provide both quantitative and qualitative analyses on a selected topic with particular focus on Asia-Europe relations and its implications on the ASEM process.

Launched in 2016, the ASEF Outlook Report 2016/2017 – CONNECTIVITY: Facts and Perspectives identifies main components of and assesses the level of connectivity between Asia and Europe.

Send an email to the Governance & Economy Department.

Team Members

• Ms Armi Hannele AARNIProject Manager
• Ms Trishia P. OCTAVIANOProject Executive
• Ms Elizabeth DYAdmin Executive
• Ms Iulia LUMINAProject Officer
• Mr Simon PIOLDIProject Officer
• Ms Rebecca FRANKUMIntern

• Ms Armi Hannele AARNI

  Project Manager
  

  Armi Hannele AARNI, a Finnish national, joined ASEF's Political and Economic Department in January 2018. Armi is responsible for the Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights Series. Her previous work experience includes working with non-governmental organisations focused on children's rights, gender equality and human rights, in both Europe and Asia.

  Armi has held a variety of positions in the nonprofit sector, and prior to joining ASEF, Armi held a position of Research Executive with a Singaporean non-governmental organisation working on women's rights. Armi holds an honours degree (sociology with criminology) and a master's degree (crime, human rights and the international community) from the University of Westminster, London. Armi also has a master's degree in project management obtained from the National University of Singapore. She enjoys art, music and all things Nordic.

• Ms Trishia P. OCTAVIANO

  Project Executive
  

  Trishia P. OCTAVIANO, a Filipino national, specialises in economic and development policy research. She joined the ASEF Political & Economic Department in September 2018 as Project Executive and currently manages the Asia-Europe Public Diplomacy Training Initiative.

  Before coming to Singapore, she collaborated as a policy consultant with the EU-funded NOPOOR Project, which carried out empirical research on multidimensional poverty in 21 countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Concurrently, she worked as an intern with the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat located in Bonn, Germany where she played a key role in planning and implementing the communications and outreach activities in the lead up to and during the Marrakech climate talks (COP22).

  Prior to this, she provided in-depth analyses on the Philippines' macroeconomic and sectoral policies, plus developments in the ASEAN markets, as Senior Researcher at BusinessWorld newspaper. Trishia earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Public Policy from San Beda University in Manila. She then completed her Master of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt's Willy Brandt School of Public Policy in Germany under the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) Scholarship Award.

• Ms Elizabeth DY

  Admin Executive
  

  Elizabeth C. DY is a Filipino national who has made her home in Singapore for over 30 years, and joined ASEF in September 2018. She has extensive background in the hospitality, media and finance industries.

  A graduate in Communication Arts, Elizabeth's career started with a five-star chain of hotels as its Public Relations Manager – Publications, responsible for all collaterals, materials for in-house and external promotions, media and employee relations. Liz also wrote and contributed to feature articles for local travel and entertainment publications.

  Prior to ASEF, she was with Middle Eastern banks for ten years and managed the office of the APAC Regional Head and CEO of the Singapore Branch, where she oversaw the Bank's Administrative and Human Resource matters for Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea.

• Ms Iulia LUMINA

  Project Officer
  

  Iulia LUMINA, a Romanian national, joined ASEF in April 2018. She is assisting with the Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights Series and the Asia Europe Economic Forum(AEEF). Iulia graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (BA and MA). She specialised in the politics and anthropology of the Middle East and Southeast Asia, with a specific focus on the comparative study of Islam.

  For two and a half years, she has further researched issues of religion and governance in Southeast Asia as Research Analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Linking academic research to policy making, Iulia worked closely with academics and diplomats. She authored several publications on religious minorities, critical theory and the study of Islam in Western scholarship (upcoming book chapter). Iulia also co-edited an upcoming academic volume on identity politics in Asia. An anthropologist at heart, Iulia is a cinema enthusiast and loves the diverse cultural expressions of urban life. 

   

   

   

   

• Mr Simon PIOLDI

  Project Officer
  

  Simon PIOLDI, an Italo- German national who was raised in the multicultural region of the Meuse-Rhine, joined ASEF's Political & Economic Department in November 2018. His task is to contribute to the organization and the development of projects such as ASEF's Public Policy Training Initiative, Perception Studies - Europe seen by Asia, and the Informal ASEM Human Rights Seminar.

  Simon completed in May 2018 his Master studies in European Law at Maastricht University, the birthplace of the European Union, after he attained a bachelor's degree in European Studies in the same University. A short internship at ASEF's Communication Department enabled Simon to get acquainted with the day-to-day tasks of each department. Today, he makes use of the knowledge he obtained throughout his studies and his experiences collected by living in one of Europe's most vivid cross-border regions.

  His aspiration is to expand his horizon onto the Asian continent. By living in Singapore and working for ASEF, Simon seeks to obtain a palpable insight in the close alliance between the EU and Asia. While he was studying in Maastricht, Simon was a leading member in a student led foundation which promoted cultural exchange among the student population. His multicultural and multilingual background makes Simon a valuable team member of ASEF's Political and Economic department. In his spare time, he likes traveling, cooking Italian food and photography.

• Ms Rebecca FRANKUM

  Intern
  

  Rebecca has a Bachelor of Arts in European Union Studies and French from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and is currently finishing her Masters thesis at New Zealand’s National Centre for Research on Europe at the University of Canterbury. Her thesis focuses on how New Caledonian media framed France and Europe in the build-up to their 2018 referendum on independence.

  Rebecca joined the Governance and Economy Department in January 2019 and is contributing to the preparation of the 19^th Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights, as well as assisting in the follow-up to previous seminars.

  Prior to starting her internship at ASEF, Rebecca has worked as a tutor for High School students and is in the process of setting up her own tutoring business aimed at tacking educational inequality in New Zealand. Rebecca is also the co-editor of a student research project on Digital Diplomacy.