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Russia seeks to advance partnership in the Arctic Council, says envoy

Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, the United States, Russia, Finland and Sweden are the Council's member countries

MOSCOW, October 17. /TASS/. Russia seeks to advance cooperation within the framework of the Arctic Council as the key international organization for the Arctic region, Russia's Senior Arctic Official Nikolai Korchunov told a news conference within the framework of the 9th International Forum entitled "Arctic: Today and the Future".

"The Russian Federation has been consistently advocating for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, advancing cooperation within the framework of the Arctic Council as the key organization determining the trajectories and details of international cooperation in this sphere," said Korchunov, Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The forum comes at the time when work is being completed on a new strategy for the development of the Russian Arctic zone until 2035, he noted. "All recommendations, conclusions that will be made and will be voiced at the forum, will be reckoned in and incorporated into that document," he stressed.

Sessions focusing on the Northern Sea Route, fundamental and applied research, state-and-private partnership, digitalization, telecommunications infrastructure, investment and human capital will be held within the framework of the forum. A public resolution on a broad range of issues on the Arctic region’s stable development will be passed at the end of the forum.

"We hope that the upcoming discussion will help the Arctic member states as well as the observer countries in the Arctic Council to work out optimal solutions to the issues and tasks on the agenda," the diplomat concluded.

The Arctic Council is a non-governmental organization of Arctic regional nations. Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, the United States, Russia, Finland and Sweden are its member countries. The Arctic Council was created in 1996, with the key objective of preserving the region’s unique polar environment and wildlife.

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