By Daisy Ayliffe - 10th September 2006
Climate change and globalisation top at the agenda on the second and final day of the Asia Europe (ASEM) summit.
On Monday, the EU and Asian leaders will issue a broad declaration on global warming.
Diplomats say leaders will call for UN negotiations on climate change to be sped up after the 2012 expiration of the current Kyoto Protocol.
The leaders of 40 Asian and European countries are meeting in Helsinki to find joint responses to broad international issues such as globalisation and terrorism.
“We agreed that the only way forward is to support the multilateral rule-based system with the UN at its core," Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said on behalf of the EU presidency on Sunday.
"Preventing terrorism and organized crime remain focal issues,” he added.
The Doha trade agenda has also come under the spotlight.
The EU entered the summit committed to seeking a revival of the stalled global trade talks but Brussels may have to settle for bilateral free trade accords.
On Sunday European commission president José Manuel Barroso expressed 'disappointment' over the suspension of the Doha global trade talks.
“Other trade arrangements between regions and countries must be complementary to the multilateral trading system,” he said on Sunday.
EU leaders have also expressed disappointment over human rights abuses and lack of democracy in Myanmar.
“We regretted the lack of tangible progress,” Vanhanen said after talks with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win.
“Nothing has happened. We are not satisfied,” he added.
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