Over 2500 participants from 36 countries are registered: Russia, Canada, USA, China, Iceland, Norway, UK, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, Mongolia, Denmark, India, Spain, Netherlands, as well as regions from NEAR (the Association of North East Asia Regional Governments, 77 regions) and many others. Of the all participants, 55 are officials, 18 are foreign professors and experts.
During the four days of the forum, 57 various events were held, united by the theme of the North and the Arctic: seminars, sessions, round tables, conferences, exhibitions, lectures, discussions. At all events, the most pressing issues of sustainable development in almost all areas of activity were raised. They talked about the possibility of public-private partnership in the development of the Arctic, the growth of small and medium-sized businesses in the Arctic, the adaptation of reindeer husbandry to climate change and globalization, the possibilities of the Arctic as a space for the development of cultural and creative industries.
The forum participants discussed new ways of developing international relations in the world after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the North-Eastern Federal University shared its experience in implementing various projects, including thematic networks and the operation of a multilingual Internet portal for integrating the languages and cultures of the indigenous peoples of the North and the Arctic into the global information space.
Proposals were made to improve the living conditions of young people and the education of the indigenous peoples of the North, the importance of expanding international scientific cooperation in the Arctic and subarctic regions was emphasized, a variety of ideas were heard about initiatives for the positive impact of tourism on the environment and the indigenous population of the North and the Arctic. Issues of international and interregional cooperation of women's organizations, prospects for socio-economic, innovative development of the Arctic, as well as issues of security of demographic development of the Arctic regions were discussed.
An important part of the Forum was the Plenary Session on “Transport Infrastructure in the North and the Arctic”, where international experts discussed the possibilities of developing transport accessibility of the Arctic zone, both regional and international. The meeting, which was held online and offline, was attended by the head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Aisen Nikolaev, the chairman of the Arctic Circle, President of Iceland (1996-2016) Oulavur Ragnar Grimsson and the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) Alexander Neradko.
The forum also touched upon the issues of joint work on the creation of ice-class vessels and cooperation in scientific research in the Arctic, issues of increasing the efficiency of the transport and technological system and proposed solutions based on the development of technologies for creating high-traffic vehicles.
The topics of investment attractiveness of the Arctic regions, the state and prospects of Arctic agriculture, the cost of building roads in the Far North, and the specifics of Russian-Canadian scientific relations were not ignored.
Russian-Japanese cooperation was discussed in 5 sections and allowed Japanese scientists of the two countries and their partners to exchange information and proposals on perspective joint projects for 2020-2021 and beyond, discuss topics and formats for future cooperation.
Within the framework of the Northern Sustainable Development Forum in an online format, a regular meeting of the Lena Club was held, completing the work of the II International Northern Sustainable Development Forum, with the participation of Alexander Krutikov, Deputy Minister for Development of the Far East and the Arctic of the Russian Federation, heads and governors of the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District. This time, the meeting of the Lena Club was devoted to topical areas of interregional cooperation in the Arctic regions of Russia.
International format, high level of experts, professional moderators, enthusiastic listeners - all this made our forum interesting and successful.
The final resolution will be published after its adoption.
All broadcasts of the events can be viewed on the website nsdf.ru and on the YouTube channel of the Northern Forum https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6oVddUKkEEd8xcgEY3lXLA
General media partner - portal arctic.ru
Information Partners:
Rosscongress Foundation, National Broadcasting Company NVK-Sakha, Rossiya Segodnya news agency, Rossiyskaya Gazeta publication, PRO-ARCTIC independent Russian information and analytical network publication, Sakhamedia RIIH JSC, Transport Strategy magazine XXI century”,“Institute of Regional Consulting”, information portal “Ambassadorial Life”, Russian network publication “First National".