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Arctic Council has good chance of maintaining its relevance — Lavrov

The Russian foreign minster noted that, overall, "there are certain advances" in the work of the Arctic Council

© Sergey Bulkin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. The Arctic Council can retain its relevance, it has every chance of doing so, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Russian regions under the Foreign Ministry.

He noted that, overall, "there are certain advances" in the work of the Arctic Council.

"The Arctic Council has a good chance of maintaining its relevance. And, of course, in these geopolitical conditions, we are not only working to preserve this important structure, but also, together with relevant agencies, promoting cooperation in the Arctic with non-regional countries interested in responsible, equal interaction in the high latitudes," Lavrov said citing cooperation with China and India as examples.

"Relevant working groups have been established with each of the countries, and one of the priorities is joint work to unlock the transport and logistics potential of the Northern Sea Route," the Russian Foreign Minister specified.

The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental organization of the Arctic states. Its members are Denmark (along with Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, the United States, Finland, and Sweden.

The Arctic Council suspended its work on March 3, 2022, participants resumed written communication in the fall of 2023. In February 2024, a decision was made to resume the working groups, including Russia, through online meetings. The first meetings were held in the spring and summer of 2024.

The Northern Sea Route is the main sea line in the Russian Arctic. The length of this artery totals 5,600 km from the Kara Strait to the Providence Bay.

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