At their fourth meeting in Finland, members of the Arctic Coast Guard Forum (ACGF) agreed to conduct exercises on rescuing people from a cruise ship sinking in ice, the press service of the Russian Federal Security Service reported.

"The terms of the second joint multilateral exercise (operation) for rescuing people from a cruise ship sinking in ice, Polaris 2019, were approved at the ACGF meeting. The exercise will be held in March-April 2019 in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea. The exercise envisages the participation of the forces of the parties: ships, aviation and maritime rescue coordination centers, as well as experts to work in the joint headquarters of the operation management," the statement said.

Representatives of Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, the US, Finland, Sweden and Russia took part in the forum. At the meeting, they expressed their readiness to continue developing multilateral cooperation between their coast guards in the Arctic region

It is stated that at the initiative of the Russian side, a comprehensive assessment of risks and threats to the safety of maritime navigation based on the situation of the Arctic region was chosen as one of the priority areas of joint activity.

The participants also announced their intention to use the automated data exchange system developed by Russia for the exchange of interdepartmental data of mutual interest, in accordance with the law. The results of the forum were fixed in a joint statement of the agency heads of the ACGF members.