International forum Arctic: Today and the Future kicks off in St. Petersburg
© RIA Novosti. Evgeny Biyatov

International forum Arctic: Today and the Future kicks off in St. Petersburg

The Expoforum convention and exhibition center in St. Petersburg is hosting the 10th international forum Arctic: Today and the Future. The forum will take place on December 10-12 under the auspices of the Association of Polar Explorers interregional public organization, with the support and participation of the Federation Council and the State Duma, as well as the State Commission for Arctic Development.

The forum program will begin with the plenary session Priorities of State Policy in the Arctic Zone in Russia. Representatives of government agencies, business people, researchers and the public will discuss the development of the Russian Arctic.

The key event of the first day of the business program will be opened by Artur Chilingarov, President of the Association of Polar Explorers and the Russian President’s Special Representative for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctica.

The presidium will include State Duma Deputy Speaker Igor Ananskikh, Deputy Chair of the State Commission for Arctic Development Vladimir Panov, First Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic Alexander Krutikov and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Alexei Besprozvannykh.

Joining the discussion via videoconference will be Nikolai Kharitonov, Chair of the Committee on Regional Policy and Problems of the North and the Far East; Grigory Ledkov, President of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON); and Andrei Grachyov, Vice President of Norilsk Nickel.

The plenary session on the second day will be devoted to the regional agenda, with a focus on the role of Russia’s Arctic regions in forming the future of the strategically important region.

Overall, the forum will offer 28 business events held both offline and online. The agenda will reflect the goals and main areas of the Basic Principles of Russian State Policy in the Arctic to 2035 and the Strategy for Developing Russia’s Arctic Zone and Ensuring National Security until 2035. These key documents were approved this year.

The forum will also feature an exhibition program, including a large themed exhibit. It will show the potential Arctic regions and major companies have for developing the Russian Arctic zone.

Following the forum, the participants will adopt a resolution that contains the initiatives of the forum participants, and then it will go to the relevant committees of the Federation Council and the State Duma, as well as to the Russian Government and the State Commission for Arctic Development, in order to improve legislation and state regulation regarding the sustainable development of the Russian Arctic zone.