Press Release: SIPRI announces expanding presence in key parts of the world

(Stockholm) The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) announces today its plans to expand its presence in Brussels, Beijing and Washington, DC.

In early March, SIPRI plans to open a Brussels office, co-located with the International Security Information Service (ISIS Europe). SIPRI Director Dr Bates Gill says, ‘This office will be a useful platform to support our increasing interactions with EU institutions and officials, as well as the broader policy community in Brussels’.

Additionally, SIPRI has appointed Linda Jakobson as Senior Researcher within SIPRI?s new programme on China and Global Security. Based in Beijing, Jakobson will take up the position on 1 March. From 1998 to 2009, Jakobson worked for the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), most recently as Senior Researcher and Director of its China Programme. She has lived and worked in China for over 15 years and has published 6 books and dozens of articles in English, Finnish and Swedish on Chinese foreign policy and transforming society.

‘This is a stimulating challenge and I am excited to apply the expertise and insight accumulated during my many years of studying China and living in Beijing to SIPRI’s new programme’, comments Jakobson. ‘I am very much looking forward to deepening my work on Taiwan issues, as well as on a range of other questions where China is having an increasingly important impact on global security’.

SIPRI Director Dr Bates Gill shares his enthusiastic support: ‘We are delighted to have a person of Linda’s experience and expertise join the SIPRI team. Her presence in Beijing will provide on-the-ground insight for our growing portfolio of China-related analysis, and further strengthen our relationships with key partners in Beijing and beyond.’

Plans are also afoot in 2009 to establish the ‘American Friends of SIPRI’, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, which will work with SIPRI and other partners to broaden transatlantic understanding and common ground on pressing issues of global security, stability and peace.

For further information contact Stephanie Blenckner on +46 (0)8 655 9747 or email blenckner@sipri.org