Arctic: Today And The Future

About the event

International forum «Arctic: Today And The Future», been held in St. Petersburg, marked the whole galaxy of significant and memorable events.

International forum «Arctic: Today And The Future» was opened on 5^th December in «Crowne Plaza Airport». The Forum reasonably continues the conference “Arctic — The Territory Of Friendship And Cooperation”, which was successfully held in 2011 with the support of the Government of St. Petersburg and “Arcticmorgeo” and “Neftegazmontazhservis” companies and is held under the aegis of the Association of the Polar Explorers of the Russian Federation led by A.N. Chilingarov.

The key participants in the Forum are: RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs, RF Ministry of Economic Development, RF Ministry of Transport, RF Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, RF Ministry of Education and Science, RF Ministry of Culture, RF Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergency Management and Natural Disasters Response, Federal Space Agency, Federal Agency for Tourism Development, Government of St. Petersburg, administration of the Arctic regions of Russia, major state and private companies, public and scientific organizations of the Arctic Council, industry’s leading scientists, prominent public figures, representatives of culture and sports.

Within the business programme of the Forum among the speakers G.S. Poltavchenko, the Governor of St. Petersburg; A.N. Chilingarov, the Chairman of the Arctic and Antarctic Expert Board under the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; S. Darkin, Deputy Minister of regional development of the Russian Federation; S. Aristov, Secretary of state – Deputy Minister of transport of the Russian Federation; A. Vasiliev,  ambassador at large for Arctic co-operation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

More than 400 delegates from 20 Russia’s regions and near and far abroad took part in the Forum. The Forum business program included issues of the strategic guidelines for the development of the Arctic zone, international and interregional cooperation in the Arctic, economic development in the polar zone, transport system modernization and environmental safety insurance, organization and conduction of scientific researches and polar expeditions, social and economical problems of the Northern regions.

On the Plenary Session of the International Forum «Arctic: Today And The Future» there was an initiative made - to introduce new professional holiday – Polar explorer day, May 21.

Opening the first plenary session, deputy minister for regional development Sergey Darkin familiarized Forum participants with the strategic guidelines for social and economic development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. Secretary of state - deputy minister of transport of the Russian Federation Sergey Aristov made a report about the main regional thruway – Northern sea route, – that is along with hydrocarbon-field exploration a key factor of the Arctic developing. Ambassador at large for Arctic co-operation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Anton Vasiliev revealed the aspects of international cooperation in the sphere of arctic territories managing.

On December 5, 2012 the award ceremony for the winners of the International Literary Award “Polar Star”, of International Film Festival “Sport Cinema To Children” and winners of International Socrates award were held in the State Hermitage theatre.

The Congress of the Interregional non-governmental organization «Association of Polar Explorers» led by A.N. Chilingarov took place on the 6th of December.

International Photo-exhibition “The Modern Look at Arctic” attended by leading photographers of Russia and the Arctic Council Member States was one more cultural event that was held within the exhibition area of the «Crowne Plaza Airport», St. Petersburg.

The focus of the exhibition was put on the beauty and natural landscape uniqueness, traditions and way of life of the native population of the North, the hard work of explorers and people working in the Arctic region.

The authors of the Photo-exhibition:  Sergey Khvorostov, Yaroslav Nikitin, Vladimir Sertun, Victor Nikiforov, Mikhail Cherkasov,  Daisy Gilardini, Dmitry Deshevykh, Valary Maleev, Andrian Kolotilin, Dariya Shlykova.

The Second International Hockey Tournament ARCTIC CUP 2012 among the Arctic Council Member States took place in St. Petersburg “Yubileyny” Sports Palace on December 6 – 9, 2012.

The end of the serious of the events served the ceremony of the Tournament closure as well as the Arctic forum in St. Petersburg on December, 9, 2012, and also happy smiles of the sportsmen and hockey tournament and the Arctic forum participants.