Roscongress Foundation To Host the Think Arctic Series Of International Conferences on Developing Cooperation in the Arctic

The Roscongress Foundation, together with leading Russian and foreign expert bodies, is organizing a series of international Think Arctic conferences. During the Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023, ten online discussions are planned with Arctic Council member states (Denmark, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States) and observers (the PRC, Republic of Korea, and India). Participants of the cross-country dialogues will discuss Arctic strategies of the states and promising directions for international cooperation in the region based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals until 2030.

“The Think Arctic project aims to promote Russia’s sustainable development agenda, as well as strengthen constructive international dialogue and find new points of interaction between Russia, the member states and observers of the Arctic Council,” said Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the Russian President and Executive Secretary of the Russian Arctic Council Chairmanship Organizing Committee.

The first activity of the project will be an online conference on the subject of “Russian-Finnish Cooperation in the Field of Sustainable Development in the Arctic Region” on 29 November 2021 at 15.00 Moscow time, which will be broadcast on the website of the Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council (arctic-council-russia.ru).

The conference will be attended by experts, as well as government and business representatives from Russia and Finland, who will discuss the following topics:

• Finland’s Arctic strategy: priorities, objectives and mechanisms.
• Russian-Finnish cooperation in the field of sustainable development.
• Prospects for Russian-Finnish cooperation.

The results of the experts’ analytical work and cross-country dialogues will be presented at a special session of the 6th International Arctic Forum “Arctic: Territory of Dialogue” to be held in St. Petersburg on 11–13 April 2022. The final report will include forward-looking strategic directions for Arctic development, a list of investment-attractive industries, and directions for articulating the Arctic strategies of the Arctic Council member states to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The authors of the study will be leading experts on Arctic issues and sustainable development goals, representatives of government authorities, the business community, and public organizations. The project partners are the Analytical Center for the Government of the Russian Federation and the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The conferences are supported by the Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council.

The operator of the Russian Chairmanship events in the Arctic Council is the Roscongress Foundation.