ABSTRACT
Helsinki was the third European city after London (1998) and Copenhagen (2002) to host an ASEM summit. As Finland held the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the latter half of 2006 the Finnish capital was designated as the venue for the sixth ASEM summit, which also coincided with the celebrations of the forum’s ten-year existence. Helsinki hosted the largest meeting at the level of Heads of State and Government in the history of the country. Approximately 1500 delegates and one thousand media representatives gathered for the summit, in addition to 1000 participants in the parallel conferences and other side events organized during the summit week between 3 and 11 September 2006. The summit itself took place on 10 and 11 September, under the overarching theme “Global Challenges – Joint Responses”. During three sessions, a working luncheon and a retreat dinner, Asian and European leaders held open discussions on relevant clustered topics introduced by lead speeches.
