President of the Republic Tarja Halonen attends the Asia-Europe Summit in South Korea October 18-22, 2000

The third Asia-Europe Summit, ASEM III, will be held in Seoul, South Korea, on October 20-21. The Finnish delegation will be led by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen. The summit will be preceded by a ministerial-level preparatory meeting attended by the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Erkki Tuomioja.

ASEM will bring together the fifteen EU Member States, the European Commission and ten Asian countries (Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). The meeting will be hosted by the President of South Korea, Kim Dae Jung, who has just been awarded the Nobel peace prize.

The subjects the leaders will discuss include the situation in the Korean peninsula, the role of the UN, strengthening economic relations between Europe and Asia (e.g. electronic commerce), where Finland is actively involved, and promoting student and researcher exchange. The meeting will probably approve the joint initiative put forward by Finland and China on sustainable forestry.

President Halonen will also have bilateral discussions with President Kim Dae Jung and President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia.