An agreement on cooperation between the Russian Geographical Society and the Norwegian research company «Akvaplan-niva» was signed in the headquarters of the Society in Moscow. The Arctic is an object of common interest: the Society has been the organizer of the International Forum “The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue» since 2010; and “Akvaplan-niva” every year holds the «Arctic frontiers» international Conference on the platform of the The University of Tromsø (Norway).
On the part of the Russian Geographical Society the agreement was signed by First Vice-President of the Society, Academician, Dean of the Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University, Nikolai Kasimov, on the part of “Akvaplan-niva” by CEO and Chairman of the Organizing committee of «Arctic frontiers» Salve Dahle.
“Akvaplan-Niva” is responsible for a very important event in the North – the «Arctic frontiers» conference, – said Nikolai Kasimov – and the Russian Geographical Society holds no less resonant international project – the forum “The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue». It addresses issues such as the creation of a sustainable transport highway at high latitudes, environmental safety and research in the Arctic. I think we have much in common, and we need to cooperate. ”
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The agreement will allow parties to expand the geography of both events. In addition, representatives of the Russian Geographical Society will be able to join the expert council of the Norwegian conference and will be involved in drafting the agenda of upcoming events.
«Scientists from around the world come annually at the conference in Tromsø, the bar for science is set pretty high – said Dale. – But we are confident that with such a partner as the Russian Geographical Society, this bar will certainly become even higher. We have a lot common scientific interests».
The parties then spoke about their future plans of work in the Arctic region. “One of the important tasks of the Russian Geographical Society is to obtain and disseminate information on the Arctic region – said First Vice President of the Society. – We will create a national atlas of the Arctic.”
And Salve Dahle proposed to consider the possibility of joint publications of books about famous Russian polar explorers in foreign languages. «In Russia people know about their exploits, and abroad, unfortunately, it is not widely known,” – said Dale.
The «Arctic frontiers» international conference has been held annually since 2007. The Secretariat of the conference is «Akvaplan-niva”, which is entirely responsible for the organization of the event. The main objective of the conference – the creation and use of a permanent discussion platform to address issues related to sustainable development and conservation of the Arctic by representatives of authorities, business community, academia and public institutions of member states of the Arctic Council, as well as the countries included in it as a observers.
Photo: Daria Vinichenko
