“The new document will include the framework for an effective employment of new possibilities, economic development of the Barents Region and growth in prosperity for its inhabitants”, Eide said in a briefing for foreign journalists in Oslo on Wednesday, Buiness Tass reports.
The new Kirkenes Declaration will be signed by the prime ministers of Norway, Russia, Finland and Sweden when they meet to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Barents Euro-Arctic cooperation in Kirkenes on June 3-4.
“We have to rise to the next step – from resolving problems to implementation of joint projects”, Eide said. “The good neighborly relations that have developed in the north will promote further cooperation in such areas as fisheries, mining, oil and gas and transport.”
Eide underlined that the countries that initiated the establishment of the Barents Euroarctic Region (BEAR) and signed the first Kirkenes declaration in 1993 have succeeded in reaching most of the goals that they set for themselves back then.
“Relations on the border have been normalized, contacts between the inhabitants of the regions in BEAR have increased manifold. Trade has also gone up – maybe not so much as it could have – but still quite considerable compared to the previous period.”
The foreign minister points at the Norwegian-Russian agreement on visa-free travel for inhabitants of the border zone and the joint Norwegian-Russian management of the fishery resources in the Barents Sea as two examples of the successful cooperation in the region.
