The main topic of the Northern Sustainable Development Forum, which will be held in Yakutsk on September 27-30, is “Transport infrastructure in the North and the Arctic”

The organizers of the Forum are the government of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), the international organization of the northern regions "Northern Forum" and the North-Eastern Federal University. Representatives of federal, national, regional executive and legislative bodies, local governments, international, non-profit and public organizations, diplomatic missions and trade missions of foreign states in the Russian Federation, transnational companies, state corporations, small and medium-sized businesses, scientific, educational institutions, recognized experts in various fields of knowledge will participate in the event.

The main theme of the Forum-2020 is “Transport infrastructure in the North and the Arctic”.

Today the topic of industrial development of the Arctic shelf and Arctic shipping is increasingly attracting the attention of various countries, the space for scientific research is expanding, including the global problem of climate warming can radically change the situation.

In the Arctic region, promising routes through the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage are of the greatest interest. Also, for the development of the Arctic, it is necessary to create an effective transport infrastructure: sea and river ports, airports, road, railways, trunk pipelines.

A special role in the development of the Arctic belongs to aviation, including small aircraft, as well as all-terrain vehicles.

The Forum will address three aspects of transport infrastructure development:

1. Regional transport networks - life support systems of the northern regions. Development of regional systems as a prerequisite for the formation of national transport systems;

2. National transport communications - the connectivity of the North, the Arctic with the regions of Russia, ensuring national interests in the Arctic and northern territories. Development of national transport networks as a prerequisite for the formation of international ones. (Northern Sea Route, road and railways);

3. World logistics and development of transport systems - problems of international transit, the formation of transcontinental transport routes and intermodal transport and logistics hubs (Northern Sea Route, "One Belt - One Road", Transcontinental Railway, Cross Polar Airlines).

The Northern Sustainable Development Forum will host a plenary session, thematic sections, round tables, events of the Northern Forum working groups and international or other organizations, project presentations, lectures, foresight sessions, and master classes.

Given the continued risks of the spread of the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19, the forum events will be held online.

Northern Sustainable Development Forum is a permanent international expert platform for discussing the problems and prospects for sustainable development of the North and the Arctic. The main idea of ​​the forum is to unite the creative forces of the Arctic and Asia in solving the problems of sustainable development of the regions of the North and the Arctic.

Speakers:

• Aisen NIKOLAEV, Head of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
• Olafur Ragnar GRIMSSON, Chair of the Arctic Circle, President of Iceland in 1996-2016 
• Victor RAZBEGIN, Director of Transcontinental Russia 
• Yuri BEZDUDNY, Governor of Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Chair of the Northern Forum
• Eric S. REINERT, Norwegian economist; Professor, Tallinn University of Technology; Professor Emeritus, University College of London; Visiting Fellow, Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, University of Bergen
• Vladimir PANOV, Special Envoy of the State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM for the Development of the Arctic; Deputy Chair of the State Commission for the Development of the Arctic
• GUO Peiqing, Professor, Ocean University of China 
• Alexander NERADKO, Head of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya)
• Oran R. YOUNG, American economist; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California (USA)

In addition to the speakers, the Plenary Session of the Forum will be attended by the discussion participants: 

• Emilia SAIZ, Secretary General of UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments)
• Esteban LEON, Head of City Resilience Profiling Programme, UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) 
• Rodion STEPANOV, Head, Arctic Programs Directorate, Bauman Moscow State Technical University 
• Lassi HEININEN, Finnish Geopolitician, Professor of the University of Lapland 
• Alexander PILYASOV, Director General of the Regional Consulting Institute
• Lars KULLERUD, President of the University of the Arctic
• Anatoly TSYKALOV, Deputy Chair of the Government, Krasnoyarsk Krai
• Anatoly NIKOLAEV, Rector of Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University 
• Andrey FEDOTOV, First Deputy Chair of the Government of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) – Permanent Representative of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) to the President of the Russian Federation    

The organizers of the Forum are the Government of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), the ‘Northern Forum’ international organization of northern regions, and the North-Eastern Federal University.

To see the full program of the Forum visit nsdf.ru website.

The events will be streamed live on the Northern Forum YouTube channel at:  Northern Forum Secretariat

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