Norwegian and Swedish Ministers for Foreign Affairs in Murmansk
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre will exploit Swedish leadership role in the EU and the Barents co-operation to get wider European interest in the North and the Arctic.
- From a Norwegian point of view, it is interesting that Sweden in a few month, have the Presidency of both EU and Barents Cooperation.
Wednesday he and Carl Bildt visited Kirkenes before they got on a bus to Murmansk. Sweden will during the Ministerial meeting of the Barents Council on Thursday take over the chairmanship for the Barents Cooperation after Russia.
In addition, Aleksei Miller, chair of Gazprom, noted that extensive efforts would be made to support social development in this remote corner of Russia, which is of interest given GAZPROMs activities in areas of reindeer husbandry.
Støre wants greater European involvement in the regional northern cooperation bodies, because Norway sees a holistic development of the North and the Arctic.
- Both Norway and Sweden are keen to get a better synergy of collaborative projects that go across borders in the north, as in the Arctic Council, the Barents Cooperation and the Baltic Sea Cooperation.
The Barents cooperation meeting coincides with the biggest business conference ever in Murmansk. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov opens Murmansk Economic Forum together with André Arthur Tsjilingarov who became world famous when he planted the Russian flag on the seabed at the North Pole.
Lavrov said in a statement before the forum that the Arctic is part of Russia.
- We are convinced that the Arctic in the future will be a region characterized by peace, stability and cooperation. This is all the Arctic countries’ profits, especially through the cooperation of key organizations such as the Arctic Council and Barents cooperation, “said Lavrov.
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