Seeking to boost relations and economic cooperation with neighboring Finland, the governor this week met with both Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and European Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Alexander Stubb.
The Finns are increasingly interested in the Arctic, including Murmansk Oblast, Kovtun stresses in a press release. Especially, Arctic transportation and the development of the Murmansk Transport Hub are of interest, she maintains.
Kovtun won firm support from her Finnish colleagues. “We believe that the power in world politics today is increasingly moving towards the north and that the importance of Murmansk will grow”, Minister Stubb said, Murman.ru reports. “We are ready to consider and support projects in the area”, he added.
As previously reported, Finland is developing its Arctic policies also within the frames of its European Union membership, and is eager to establish the planned EU Arctic Information Center in Rovaniemi. Finland is also increasingly also looking at the opportunities to develop new infrastructure in its High North, including possibly to sea ports on the Arctic coast.
