Photo1.In front of the Secretariat Office, Seoul, Korea

Representatives from the embassies of France, Singapore and European Union to Seoul, Korean government officials from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade attended the opening ceremony and exchanged views on the implementation of the programme.
The Secretariat will function as a center for the promotion of personal exchange programs for students, professors and teachers between 26 ASEM members in Asia and Europe.

The ASEM-DUO Fellowship program, jointly proposed by the heads of Korea, France and Singapore, was endorsed by the third ASEM held in Seoul last year, and the Secretariat was established in September this year, in accordance with the recommendation by the expert meeting in April this year. Currently this program is mainly financed by the contribution from the ASEM members including Korea, France and Singapore. The Secretariat expects more and wider contribution from other ASEM members from next year.

Photo2.Secretary General presenting DUO Programme

This program is unique in that the program only supports exchanges in pairs for bi-directional personal exchange. The name DUO was derived from this unique feature. ASEM envisaged expanded exchange between the two regions since the pairing feature of this programme would enable participating institutions to establish permanent bi-directional cooperation.
The interested institutions may arrange proposals for the exchange with the paring institutions by themselves, or through assistance from the national contact point or the Secretariat. Relevant information can be found at http://www.asemduo.org.