The ASEM Summit to be held in Tampere during the Finnish EU Presidency

Government Information Unit

Press release 18/2005
21 January 2005




On Friday, 21 January, the Cabinet Committee for European Union Affairs announced that the ASEM Summit to be organised during the Finnish EU Presidency will take place in Tampere. The ASEM Summit, that is a joint meeting of the EU Member States, European Commission and thirteen Asian Heads of State or Government, will take place on 14 and 15 September 2006.

The ASEM Summit will be preceded by a meeting of the ASEM Ministers of Finance on 11 and 12 September and ASEM/Senior Officials Meeting on 13 September. Some 2,000 delegates are expected to attend the aforementioned meetings. The estimated total expense of the meetings is 15 million euros.

Since 1996, the ASEM Summit has been held once in every two years and the meetings are organised alternately in Europe and Asia. The previous Summit was held in Vietnam in October 2004 and Denmark hosted the meeting in Europe in 2002.

Further information: Helena Tuuri, Special Adviser in EU Affairs, Prime Minister's Office, tel. +358 9 1602 2055 and Jari Luoto, State Under-Secretary for EU Affairs, Government Secretariat for EU Affairs, tel. +358 9 1602 2182