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Finland’s Arctic Strategy

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will present Finland’s Arctic Strategy later this month.

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Participating at the 20th anniversary of the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi on September 29th, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb is expected to present Finland’s new Arctic Strategy.

Wednesday Stubb presented some of his Arctic views published at the Foreign Minister’s own website. Stubb says the Arctic has one of the most important untapped energy reserves and the climate change will make their utilisation easier, albeit the warming of the atmosphere may also create many serious problems should the permafrost melt.

- For Finland, the key point is that there can be no new Great Game over the resources in the Arctic. The national knee jerk reflexes and the scramble for the Arctic must be resisted and we must utilize the existing multilateral channels, Stubb says.

The Foreign Minister also says: -If given the proper political backing, the Arctic Council should be the intergovernmental forum to take the issues forward politically. There is no need for harsh competition or any need to reinvent the wheel: we in fact have all the mechanisms in place already, Alexsander Stubb says.

In mid-October Alexander Stubb will travel to Murmansk meet his counterparts from Norway, Russia and Sweden at the Barents Council meeting.