A meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region (SCPAR) was held in Murmansk.
Participants discussed issues related to the development of the Arctic region, its transport system, including the Northern Sea Route, and also touched upon issues of climate change.
The keynote address was delivered by Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nikolai Korchunov, who is Russia’s representative to the Arctic Council. His report was devoted to Russia’s current Arctic policy, approaches to the development of international cooperation in high latitudes, and an assessment of the current state of multilateral interaction in the region. He named integrated socio-economic development of the Far North as a key priority of the Russian strategy for Arctic development. Korchunov also noted the important role played by parliamentary cooperation in developing collective approaches by Arctic countries to dealing with issues on the agenda facing this region and overcoming emerging challenges.