Opening address by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at the Opening Ceremony: "Celebration of Ten Years of ASEM" on 10 September 2006

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It is my great pleasure to address you today and to welcome you to Finland and to the Sixth ASEM Summit. For us Finns, it is a great honour to host this important event. The ASEM Summit is in fact the largest international meeting ever organised in Finland. But the Summit is not only very special for us but also for ASEM as such. At this meeting, we will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Asia-Europe partnership.

Due to its geographic location, Finland is sometimes called a gateway between Europe and Asia. Therefore, we feel that our country provides a suitable location for this anniversary Summit. As President of the Republic of Finland, I hope that despite of your busy schedules you will have time to get to know our Northern country a little bit better.

The Finnish system – the so-called Nordic welfare society model – is based on solid democracy, shared responsibility and social justice. Sound economic development is decisive – but I believe that for Finland’s success it has also been crucially important that we have applied policies and measures, which are effective, just and alleviate the polarization in society. In addition, we consider that gender equality contributes to competitiveness. Gender equality enables both women and men to fully participate in developing the society and economy.

I have a lot of good personal memories of previous ASEM meetings. As Foreign Minister, I participated in the very first meeting in Bangkok in 1996. At that meeting, we were still a bit shy to communicate with each other and just taking our first steps in our contacts. That meeting was a success. In ten years, ASEM has become a central forum for co-operation and dialogue between Asian and European countries.

The Asia-Europe partnership has widened as well as strengthened in many ways. Originally, there were 26 partners; today ASEM has expanded to a meeting of 39 ASEM partners – and we expect that more partners will join in this co-operation soon. Countries participating in this Summit represent altogether more than 2.4 billion people, which is more than 40 percent of the world's population. The partnership has resulted in broader political dialogue, stronger economic relations, as well as deeper co-operation in the field of social affairs and cultural exchanges. We have been able to exchange views in an open and straightforward manner even on sensitive issues. I hope that this will be the atmosphere here in Helsinki as well.

This Summit provides us with an excellent opportunity to keep up the momentum and aim even higher. We all share one world, and we all need each other to address common challenges. In order to govern globalisation, we need cooperation within regions, between regions, and we need to promote multilateralism – in particular through the United Nations. We are all members of the world organisation. This interregional co-operation provides a strong means to support the work and role of the United Nations.

Multilateralism is the key instrument for creating a democratic, legitimate and coherent framework for globalisation. It is also the single most important tool to address the broad security agenda. Due to the fact that nowadays our actions and policy decisions have often also cross-border impacts, the commitment to a multilateral approach is more important than ever. Globalisation offers great opportunities – and issues such as economic liberalisation, wider market access and sound macroeconomic policies are certainly important aims for all of us. However, today the benefits of globalisation are unfairly spread. Far too many people are living in poverty, suffering or are totally excluded from globalisation. That is why we need to focus on the social dimension of globalisation and on poverty reduction. ASEM can effectively contribute to reforming globalisation fairer. In this context I am also happy to note that the ASEM6 will accept a declaration on climate change.

ASEM is not only about institutions or administrations; it is also about people. ASEM helps create closer partnerships between parliaments, businesses, trade unions, non-governmental organisations, and also between ordinary citizens. Student exchanges and people-to-people programmes are good example of this. All these partnerships are needed for the creation of a better and safer world. Therefore, we must see them as important and integral part of our co-operation. Different forms of cooperation within ASEM framework are needed to truly strengthen our common values – that is democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law.

I wish all the success for the ASEM6 Summit and for the future of dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe. Thank you very much for your attention.