"ASEM was established in 1996 in a very different environment. The geopolitics and economic situation have changed; now we see the United States cannot stand alone as the sole superpower. It relies heavily on Asia and Europe," Wiryono told The Jakarta Post early this week.

The seventh Asia-Europe Meeting, to be held Oct. 24-25, is an informal biennial meeting among state leaders from 16 Asian and 27 European countries and representatives from ASEAN and the European Commission.

The summit is intended to facilitate direct communication among leaders of the two continents, which boast burgeoning trade and population figures, while setting aside targets or producing any concrete resolutions or declarations.

However, with economic hardship imminent, analysts have come expecting the rare meeting will not end without making any observable progress on tackling current economic woes.

Wiryono said leaders from both continents, especially Asia, should be more courageous and become the driving force for the establishment of a more effective global financial system to replace the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, both of which have proved to be failures in solving crises.

The task may not be easy, as the 1997 economic crisis saw the collapse of most Asian economic powers.

Although Asia is now back on track with China and India leading the rise, the crisis in the United States might again test the resilience of these burgeoning economic empires.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he will use the ASEM meeting to coerce China and India into getting involved in the reform of the world financial system. Neither China nor India has responded to the invitation, despite being heavily affected by the economic fallout.

"There should be a new body, which is more independent than the existing one, that is able to oversee currency movement and trade and is able to act without any pressure from particular countries.

"In this case, Asian countries with promising futures should dare to become driving forces and claim their position on the world political and economic stage to ensure the establishment of better financial security. They should not wait for solutions from their Western counterparts," said Wiryono.

But according to Berly Martawardaya from the University of Indonesia, the disparity between the more integrated European countries and the more loosely connected Asian countries may be a problem for consolidating power. Real progress, he said, relies heavily on host China, which, together with several other Asian countries, has stockpiled huge capital reserves.

"We might expect to see China leading efforts for Asian and European countries to help out the U.S. with its reserves. China could use the ASEM meeting to invite countries to join it, as it might be reluctant to offer the U.S. help unilaterally, due to their history of hostility."

However, Berly said, the only thing to immediately expect from the ASEM meeting is a public statement about a coordinated move to help ease the crisis.

"Just a public statement that leaders on the two continents are ready to consolidate on efforts to do good to the stock market and banking sector, to ensure investors know that governments are doing their job and ease the fear of defaults."

Asia and Europe account for 43 percent of total global trade, with the two continents making up 58 percent of the world population and 50 percent of global GDP.

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