Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy

The Helsinki Process is a Finnish government foreign initiative. While some countries are focused internally on how their policies can contribute to just globalisation, Finland is more oriented towards external initiatives,^[2] such as during the Cold War when Finland helped facilitate the East-West negotiations. The Helsinki Process is an attempt by Finland to encourage North-South engagement.^[3]

Through its partnership with Tanzania, Finland launched a platform where countries from the North and South can work together to mitigate the adverse impact of globalisation and manage the process equitably.^[4] This initiative serves as a forum for governments from the North and South, international organizations, private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders. By 2005, the Helsinki Process hosted a two-day conference that attracted 700 participants from 79 countries.^[5]

The Helsinki Process has two phases.

The first phase of the process occurred from 2003 to September 2005. During this phase "the high-level Helsinki Group and three thematic Tracks worked on developing a concept for multi-stakeholder cooperation in global problem solving and suggested ways of addressing various global problems using this concept."^[1]

The second Phase of the process occurred from October 2005 to the end of 2007. The purpose of this phase was to:^[1]

1. Promote the implementation of selected proposals made during the first phase of the process
2. Continue multi-stakeholder dialogue for finding feasible solutions to global problems
3. Promote multi-stakeholder cooperation in institutions and mechanisms of global governance
4. Strive to achieve the aims of the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs by 2015
5. Create a framework for solving global problems beyond 2015
6. Address the democracy, coherence, and compliance deficits in global governance