WASHINGTON, September 30. /ITAR-TASS/. Canada as the current chairman in the Arctic Council hails constructive cooperation with Russia in the framework of this forum and hopes such cooperation will be further continued, Vincent Rigby, the chair of the Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs), said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a news conference at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, he noted he expected Russia’s full-fledged participation in the Arctic Council’s ministerial session due to be held in Iqaluit, the capital city of the Canadian territory Nunavut, in April 2015. A question on this topic was asked in the context of a recent chill in the relations between the West and Russia over the Ukrainian crisis. Rigby however said so far the Arctic Council had succeeded in isolating both itself and the Arctic region in general from impacts of external factors, including the above problem.
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