TASS, April 29. /TASS/. Strengthening of cooperation with the Arctic Council (AC) is a key priority of the Northern Forum, an international non-governmental organization, the Northern Forum Secretariat’s Acting Executive Director Vladimir Vasilyev said at the organization’s general assembly in Naryan-Mar on Wednesday.

In May 2021, at the AC ministerial meeting in Reykjavik, Russia will take over the chairing role from Iceland. AC comprises Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, the US, Finland and Sweden. Twelve non-Arctic states, including Germany, the UK, India, China and France, are AC’s observers.

"The Northern Forum’s key priority will be to strengthen and develop cooperation with the Arctic Council," Vasilyev said, stressing that the organization marks its 30th anniversary in 2021. "We must become the organization’s true partner."

Sustainability forum

The Arctic Sustainability Forum is due in 2022, the Nenets region’s representative Sergei Kungurtsev, chairman of the Northern Forum’s Committee of Regional Coordinators and chair of the Committee for Arctic Affairs, International and Interregional Relations of the Department of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Media of the Nenets Autonomous Region, said. In 2018, the region received a mandate for a three-year chairing role in the Northern Forum.

"Under the Russian Federation’s presidency over the Arctic Council, the Northern Forum has been involved to organize and partner with a few big international events - the Arctic Sustainability Forum in 2022, the Arctic Energy Summit in 2023, the First Conference of Northern Regions’ Business Chambers and Associations and the Youth Startup Forum," he added.

New working groups

During the general assembly, the organization presented its new working groups - on creative industries and on parliamentary cooperation. "The working group’s basic task is to offer favorable conditions for new ideas and skills, to eliminate barriers for creative industries in the member-regions and to form creative clusters," the Khanty-Mansiysk Region’s representative at the Federation Council (parliament's upper house) Eduard Isakov said, presenting a new working group on creative industries.

The new working group on parliamentary cooperation was presented by deputy speaker of Yakutia’s parliament Viktor Gubarev. Active parliamentary cooperation will favor improvement of legislation for the northern communities, and parliamentarians will exchange legislative practices to improve living standards in the North, he said. "The cooperation directions include healthcare and sustainable development for the North and the Arctic," he added.

Northern Forum

The Northern Forum is an international non-governmental organization of northern regions. It was established in 1991. In 1994, the Northern Forum was accredited at the UN as a non-governmental organization and in 1998 it received the status of an observer at the Arctic Council. The organization’s members are northern regions of Russia, Iceland, Canada, the US, South Korea and Finland.