HELSINKI, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Northern European states agreed to dispatch peacekeeping troops and civilian police to Sudan's Darfur region after ending a foreign ministerial meeting on Friday in Finland.

    The two-day foreign ministerial meeting, composed of the five Nordic countries Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland as well as the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, was held in the southern Finnish city of Turku.

    Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt and his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Stoere said that the two countries decided to send a 350-strong joint peacekeeping unit to Darfur, which would take part in the UN peacekeeping mission in the region.

    Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva said Helsinki considered to send five to 10 civilian policemen to the region.

    During the meeting, the foreign ministers also discussed peacekeeping issues in Afghanistan and expressed their hope for further cooperation.

    Kanerva said Finland is likely to increase the number of its peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan. At present, about 100 Finnish soldiers are deployed in the country.