Asian and European Business Leaders in Partnership for Sustainable Growth

Confederation of Finnish Industries EK will host the tenth Asia-Europe Business Forum (AEBF10). The Forum takes place on 10-11 September 2006 in Helsinki, Finland.

The AEBF10 will be held during the Finnish EU Presidency, in parallel with the ASEM-summit. The Business Forum is part of the official ASEM process and it formulates recommendations to the ASEM governments.

The main themes of the AEBF10 are Globalisation, Competitiveness and Energy. The themes will be discussed in plenary sessions and working groups.

As Chairman of AEBF10 Mr Christoffer Taxell, President of EK, will give Opening Remarks after which H.E. Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland, will address the Forum.

Keynote speakers in the first plenary sessions will be Mr Jorma Ollila, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Nokia, Mr Fu Chengyu, Chairman, CEO and Executive Director for China National Offshore Oil Corporation Limited (CNOOC) and Mr Peter Mandelson, Commissioner for External Trade, European Commission.

In the second session Mr Pascal Lamy, Director General for World Trade Organization, and Mr Haruhiko Kuroda, President for Asian Development Bank, will speak about multilateralism vs. regionalism.

Approximately 300-400 business leaders from a wide range of industrial sectors in Asian and European countries are expected to participate in the Forum. AEBF10 provides an excellent platform for participants for discussion and networking.

Working Groups

In addition to the plenary sessions there will be five parallel working groups under the topics Trade, Investment, Financial Services, ICT and Infrastructure.

The recommendations given by each working group will be compiled and submitted to the Heads of State and/or Government in the ASEM countries.

Working groups will be chaired by high-profile professionals from Asia and Europe. Among them are Mr Sugihono Kadarisman, Executive Director for ICC Indonesia, Mr Joachim Bitterlich, Executive Vice President for Veolia Environnement, Mr Carl H. Schmitt, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Konvekta AG, Mr Kim Sun-Bae, President for International Cooperation Agency of Korea IT, and Mr Juha Rantanen, CEO for Outokumpu.

Organizer and Corporate Partners

Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, which is the voice of Finnish business (www.ek.fi) is organising AEBF10 under the Chairmanship of Mr Christoffer Taxell, President of EK. Corporate partners include Cargotec, KONE, Metso, UPM and Wärtsilä.

Information and Contacts

Information in detail about the conference (pdf link of Brochure) and the programme (link of Programme in the web pages) are enclosed. To stay informed of the latest news of AEBF10 and to follow the AEBF10 preparations, please visit the official AEBF10 website www.aebf10.org.

Media representatives are welcome to attend AEBF10. Access to the venue is limited to accredited media representatives. More information on accreditation and other media arrangements can be found from the Media Guide.