Experts and eminent persons of ASEAN Regional Forum to discuss regional security and conflict prevention in Asia in Helsinki

Press Release 80/2015
11 March 2015

The ASEAN Regional Forum Experts and Eminent Persons group (ARF EEP) will convene in Helsinki on 12–13 March 2015. Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja will open the meeting.

The Forum's task is to foster dialogue on regional security in Asia and to contribute to confidence-building between the ARF member states in the Asia-Pacific region.

In its meeting in Finland, the Experts and Eminent Persons group (EEP) will discuss the means of preventive diplomacy in efforts to improve regional security in Asia, concrete examples of which include tensions in the East China Sea and the Korean Peninsula. The group will also discuss the Forum's future role as  a promoter of security in the Asia-Pacific.

The meeting organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will be attended by 20 member states of the ARF. Finland is the first EU country to host their meeting; it will be chaired by Ambassador Esko Hamilo and Ambassador Barry Desker from Singapore.

The ARF EEP membership consists of representatives of the member states' foreign services, researchers and specialists. The group gives strategic recommendations especially on preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution to the ASEAN Regional Forum.  It has convened regularly starting from 2006. 

Additional information: Saana Kyröläinen, Desk Officer, Unit for Eastern Asia and Oceania, tel. +358 295 351 887 and Sami Leino, Director of the Unit for Eastern Asia and Oceania, tel. +358 295 351764