The sixth Asia-Europe Meeting Summit (ASEM 6) was held in Helsinki, Finland from September 10-12. The event took place at a crucial time when ASEM was celebrating its tenth anniversary. It provided a good opportunity for leaders of 38 member countries and the European Commission (EC) President to look back on the ASEM cooperation process during the past decade.

Most leaders affirmed that the establishment of the ASEM process was a right decision and pledged to continue realising the objectives of the process by promoting dialogue and cooperation in resolving global issues relating to politics, economics, culture, peace, security and development.

Asian and European leaders and the EC President held comprehensive and effective discussions on a wide range of issues associated with multilateralism, how to cope with  threats to security, dialogues between cultures and civilizations, globalization and the future of Asia-Europe cooperation. These issues are capturing international public attention. Security and dialogues between civilizations are becoming urgent matters of great concern for humankind since all hot spots and new racial and religious conflicts in recent times  stemmed from these burning issues.

“10 years of ASEM: Global Challenges - Joint Responses” was considered the main topic of the meeting. Asian and European leaders discussed solutions for overcoming global challenges and settling regional conflicts among ethnicities and voiced support for the dialogue and security process towards building a fair and just multilateral international system with the United Nations playing a central role. They reaffirmed their commitments to promoting peace and security, sustainable development and human rights in accordance with the UN Charter and international law.

Leaders of the two continents reached a high consensus on cooperation in environmental protection, sustainable development and dialogues between cultures and civilizations among nations.

The meeting adopted three important documents- the ASEM 6 chairman's statement, the ASEM 6 statement on climate change and the Helsinki statement on the future of ASEM 6.

These documents clarified orientations for future cooperation aimed at further substantiating the partnership between the two continents. Particularly, the ASEM 6 statement on climate change demonstrated their determinations to resolve environmental issues which are badly affecting sustainable development. A remarkable result was that ASEM 6 marked a further development of the ASEM cooperation process  by admitting a number of new members at the 2008 ASEM Summit in China.

The results Asian and European leaders obtained through ASEM 6 were of great significance to the cooperation process between the two continents and were clear evidence of the developing process. These results are seen as significant contributions to promoting peace and security in the region and the world as well as providing opportunities for joint cooperation among member countries toward sustainable development. Therefore, the great success of ASEM 6 has opened up a new era in cooperative relations between the two continents- the sustainable partnership of mutual development for the sake of peace and stability in the region and the world.