Foreign Minister Carl Bildt today arrives in the Russian Arctic capital of Murmansk where he in tomorrow’s bi-annual Barents Council session will take over the council chairmanship from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The meeting might not only open a period of enhanced High North focus in the Swedish foreign ministry. It could also help raise the attention of Brussels on the northernmost parts of the continent, as Sweden currently has the EU presidency.
As BarentsObserver reported, Mr. Bildt will together with his Norwegian colleague Jonas Gahr Støre and representatives of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat travel by bus the 250 km from the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes to Murmansk. That will give him an excellent opportunity to learn about a unique set of regional challenges, ranging from Arctic security issues, border cooperation, the Russian Northern Fleet, climate change and the big energy politics of the Shtokman field.
The two-day trip of the Swedish foreign minister to the Barents Region in the middle of the country’s EU presidency period, itself illustrates a high Swedish priority for the region. That is a good sign for the Barents Cooperation, a Nordic-Russian platform for regional cooperation since 1993. Sweden, which has most of its political and economic relations with Russia focus centered on the Baltics and Sankt Petersburg, could in its Barents chairmanship period help lift focus on the area in the EU structures in a way which is impossible for non-members Norway and Russia.
Talking to BarentsObserver earlier this year, foreign ministry special adviser Per Wallen confirmed that the country will seek to include Barents perspectives in Brussels during its chairmanship period.
The Barents Region today faces a set of challenges of key importance for the whole continent. Climate change and the subsequent opening of new shipping routes and industrial opportunities in the Arctic will make the region an increasingly attractive area for investors, but also expose it to serious environmental dangers.
The energy potential of the region is significant. Alone the giant Shtokman gas field, located 600 km north of Murmansk will open a new physical link between the Barents Sea and the continent. With new major Arctic gas deliveries to European consumers in the pipeline, the Barents periphery is no long that far away, neither from the continent’s decision-takers.
For Sweden, a strong engagement in the Barents Region not positively affects cooperation in the area. It also strengthens the country’s role as a bridge between the EU, Northwest Russia and the Barents Sea.
Read more about the Barents Council meeting here
