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Russia calls for close coordination based on Northern Dimension policy, says Lavrov

The Northern Dimension is a platform for regional cooperation in Europe's Arctic zone, initially created as a European Union program

TROMSO /Norway/, October 26. /TASS/. Moscow is encouraging close coordination between northern European countries, particularly based on the Northern Dimension policy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, addressing the 18th ministerial session of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council on Tuesday.

"Close coordination across the entire Northern European region is crucial for meeting the challenges that we are facing, which includes the activities of intergovernmental councils and partnerships. As you know, apart from our council, there also are the Arctic Council, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Nordic Council of Ministers, and let's not forget the Northern Dimension partnerships," he pointed out. "We call for resuming meetings on all of these northern platforms at the political level," Lavrov added.

The Northern Dimension is a platform for regional cooperation in Europe's Arctic zone, initially created as a European Union program. A political declaration and framework document on the policy of the updated Northern Dimension was approved at the Russia-EU summit on November 24, 2006. These documents transformed the Northern Dimension into a joint project involving Russia, the EU, Iceland and Norway, which is aimed at discussing and resolving a sweeping range of issues in Europe's Arctic zone.

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