The Arctic Council will not let the EU get permanent observer status, despite the union’s growing interest in the High North. A dispute with Canada might be what prevents the union from getting into the club
The establishment of the United Shipbuilding Corporation is completed. A total of 33 companies in the field of ship design and shipbuilding are included in the new grand state enterprise.
On Monday racing dog sleds crossed the Norwegian – Russian border for the first time since before the cold war. In March 2010 the 3112 kilometers long Arctic Barents Race will be run from Murmansk to Røros as the longest dog sled race in the world.
The difficult financial situation was the main reason why a scheduled meeting in the Barents Joint Working Group on Health and Related Social Issues (JWGHS) has been cancelled, the chair of the working group confirms.
An opinion poll shows that only one of twenty Russians definitely thinks Russia will have an armed conflict with a neighbouring country in 2009. 22 percent think such conflict is probably.
People living in the Russian border towns of Nikel and Zapolyarny are disappointed about what they see as slow progress in Norwegian-Russian cooperation.
Murmansk Oblast Governor Yury Yevdokimov invites Norway to open a consulate office in the border town of Nikel, in order to ease the visa application process for people living in the border areas.
President Medvedev told Murmansk Governor Yevdokimov to stop “fooling around abroad” and rather deal with domestic issues, and representatives of the United Russia party accused Governor Yevdokimov of “betraying Russian interests in the Arctic”. The statements have caused concern among the region’s foreign partners.
