An automated information exchange system (AIES) developed by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) will be shared with the Arctic countries' border services. This was announced by the FSB Public Relations Center, TASS reports. Since 2005, AIES has been supplied to the border agencies (coast guard services) in the northern Pacific.

"The AIES is a new step forward towards the establishment of effective information exchange between the member-states of the Arctic Coast Guard Forum," a FSB spokesperson explained.

The Russian FSB Border Service is an active participant in the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum (NPCGF) and the Arctic Coast Guard Forum (ACGF). The border directorates of the FSB Border Service in Vladivostok and Murmansk held seminars on information exchange automation, which were attended by NPCGF and ACGF technical experts. In the Pacific region, the forums include as members, apart from the FSB Border Service, the coast guard agencies of Canada, China, Republic of Korea, the USA, and Japan. In the Arctic region, the members are Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, USA, Finland and Sweden.

"The seminars helped to shape a consolidated position on the expediency of using the AIES as the main means for information cooperation between the border services in the run-up to joint practical events," the spokesperson added.