The meeting which was scheduled for May 5 in Umeå, Sweden, was cancelled due to today’s financial situation, co-chairs Kerstin Ödman and Andrey Krasilnikov inform. The financial problems made it impossible for the Russian participants to attend the meeting, Barentshealth.org reports.
The Russian federal subjects in the Barents Region are all suffering from budget cuts in the wake of the financial crisis. That could result in a weakening of the regional administrations’ international engagement.
The JWGHS has been one of the most successful of the working groups under the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and the Barents Regional Council. Co-Chairs Ödman and Krasilnikov maintain that another meeting in the group will be tried organized in Russia later this year.
The working group is today chaired jointly by Sweden and Arkhangelsk Oblast.
