The First International Arctic Media Congress at the Accessible Arctic forum kicked off today in St. Petersburg’s Tauride Palace. According to Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism Zarina Doguzova, this event opens Russia’s Arctic Council chairmanship.

“We would like to listen to bright ideas and share experience, and we look forward to constructive and vigorous work,” the head of the agency said.

Zarina Doguzova also pointed out that the Arctic is associated with the exotic, and the current task is to make that region closer and more accessible for everybody.

“It takes only two hours to fly there from Moscow,” Doguzova said. “We should work together to make the Arctic more accessible to people while preserving its unique nature.”

She also shared her view that stable tourism in the Arctic may promote the region’s socioeconomic stability, create jobs and help preserve the unique culture of the indigenous and small-numbered peoples of the North.