German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Finnish President Alexander Stubb have proposed a trust-building conference aimed at the Middle and Near East. In a guest article published in the FAZ, the two heads of state drew inspiration from the Helsinki Process, which took place in Europe during the Cold War rivalry of the 1970s. They referenced this historical moment, noting how, despite an atmosphere of distrust, it was possible to conceive of “the most ambitious cooperative security initiative of the twentieth century.”
Steinmeier and Stubb emphasized a key lesson learned from that experience: that starting a process does not require pre-existing trust; rather, the process itself is what ultimately builds it. They acknowledged that the Middle East and Near East today are far more complex than the Europe of the Cold War, given the numerous religious, ideological, and ethnic fault lines present in the region.
Nevertheless, they made it clear that complexity should never be used as an excuse to reject structured dialogue. Instead, the complexity of the region is what strongly advocates for it. The presidents concluded that despite the defining contrasts within the region, there are “significant common interests lying beneath the surface,” and it is upon these interests that future efforts must be based.
