The main theme of the upcoming forum is "The Arctic: An Ocean of Opportunities".

As High North News wrote a week ago, it is still not clear whether [Norwegian] Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide will attend Russia’s major Arctic conference, which takes place in St. Petersburg on 9-10 April. (Norwegian only).

A series of Heads of State, top politicians, scientists and business leaders are expected at the conference, which attracts a record high number of participants this year. More than 4,000 people have registered for the event.

A conference preparation meeting was held in Moscow yesterday, and among the participants wereAmbassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Nikolai Korchunov, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East Alexander Krutikov, Deputy CEO of the Roscongress Foundation Armen Khachatrian, as well as representatives of Arctic Council members and observer states.

The management of the forum organizers provided the meeting, and reportedly gave exhaustive information about the business programme preparation process, as well as the mission and the key goals of the conference.

International partnerships

“The 'Arctic: Territory of Dialogue International Arctic Forum' is one of the largest global platforms on the Arctic and is aimed, above all, at strengthening international partnership for sustainable development of the region and its inhabitants. The Forum will offer a great opportunity for our partners from the Arctic Council, representatives of other interested countries, as well as nongovernmental and international organizations, businesses and academic circles, to discuss the topical issues and challenges of the Arctic region and map out ways to solve them. We hope that the work of the International Arctic Forum and of each participant contributes to building of peace, stability and constructive cooperation in the Far North,” said Nikolai Korchunov.

During the meeting, Alexander Krutikov presented the key vectors of Arctic economic growth to the participants and emphasized the importance of development of business projects.

“The programme of the International Arctic Forum 2019 will cover the whole range of areas for development of Arctic regions,” he said.

Current situation and near-term opportunities

“Experts, businessmen and heads of relevant agencies invited to participate in the Forum’s sessions and discussions will focus both on the current situation and the near-term opportunities for using these territories”, Krutikov added.

According to a press release from the management of the forum, the business programme architecture is to be confirmed shortly. There will be three key sections of the programme, covering economic, social and environmental issues for the development of the Arctic region.

Hoping for a breakthrough

During the presentation yesterday, Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation Anton Kobyakov commented on the outcomes, underlining the importance of cooperation with the international community:

“The number of potential participants of the International Arctic Forum 2019 interested in the business programme has exceeded the initially planned quantity by almost three times. We genuinely believe that creation of international projects in the Arctic will provide ground for a breakthrough increase in trade and economic relations between Russia and leading world countries and generally improve the business climate and geopolitical situation. We hear a lot about global threats and risks, but we would like to create positive agenda and set a precise vector to improve the global economic environment”, said Anton Kobyakov.