“PRIF is proud to host fmr. Finnish Under-Secretary Jaakko Laajava as its First Honorary Diplomat Research Fellow in Frankfurt from December 1, 2015”, Prof. Dr. Klaus Dieter Wolf, PRIF’s Executive Director, has announced today. “Our endeavor is to develop together with this highly experienced world-class diplomat new ideas on how to overcome the current international stalemate after the failed 2015 Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in New York.” The main reason was that the relevant actors in the Middle East/Gulf could not agree to hold a conference in Helsinki to discuss the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery vehicles in that region. Amb. Laajava was selected by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in October 2011 to facilitate the convening of the international gathering in the Finnish capital as envisaged by all 190 NPT members in 2010.
“Amb. Laajava has nevertheless done an incredible job”, adds Prof. Dr. Harald Müller, PRIF’s fmr. Executive Director and himself a participant at seven NPT Review Conferences in New York. Although the gathering on the zone did not take place in Helsinki, Jaakko Laajava succeeded in bringing all vital players from the conflict region to a series of five informal talks in Switzerland. “This was the first time after 19 years; Mr. Laajava has thus created an important communication channel”, Müller emphasized.
The agreement to jointly tackle the regional nonproliferation and disarmament challenge by presenting creative concepts is seen by all participants as a logical step of a year-long cooperation. Amb. Laajava participated during recent years in the seminars conducted by the EU Non-proliferation Consortium in Brussels consisting of four leading European institutes, which are specialized on issues of non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament, including PRIF. Moreover, the Academic Peace Orchestra Middle East/Gulf, an international expert group of some 150 members mainly from the conflict region, has devoted its almost 50 Policy Briefs to provide Amb. Laajava and his team with ideas, analyses and background information (see academicpeaceorchestra.com).
The Ambassador underscored: “The European Union and the EU Non-proliferation Consortium have provided solid support for my efforts, and I look very much forward to working with the experts at the PRIF.” Adj. Prof. Dr. Bernd W. Kubbig, who directs the Peace Orchestra’s Project Group at the Frankfurt-based institute, stressed “Mr. Laajava’s presence at PRIF is the crowning of our past joint efforts demonstrating that experts inside and outside governments need each other”.
Photo: © Lehtikuva, Finland