SECOND INTERNATIONAL ARCTIC FORUM
«THE ARCTIC: TERRITORY OF DIALOGUE»
September 22-23, 2011
Arkhangelsk
The Second International Arctic Forum «The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue» will be held from 22 to 23 September in Arkhangelsk.
The International Arctic Forum is organized by the Russian Geographical Society. The Society was founded in 1845 in St Petersburg. The Arctic research has been one of the major tasks of the Russian Geographical Society in its early years. Many famous explorers at different times were its members: Otto Schmidt, Yuly Shokalsky, Georgy Sedov, Sergey Obruchev, Artur Chilingarov and others. The Society’s Presidents participated in the Arctic research works as well: Lev Berg studied the ice regime in the Arctic seas, while Stanislav Kalesnik was involved in nature studies of Novaya Zemlya.
The Russian Geographical Society was one of the First International Polar Year organizers in 1882-1883. The International Arctic Forum’2010 became one of the major events in the modern history of the Society.
The main topic of the Forum’2011 will be the Arctic Transport System as the major factor of the Arctic region development, and the integrated security and environmental protection in the course of the Arctic Transport System formation.
The International Arctic Forum «The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue» will draw many world’s leading experts on the Arctic issues, politicians, NGOs’ representatives and businessmen – all in all more than 300 people from 20 countries.
President of the Russian Geographical Society Sergey Kuzhugetovich Shoygu, elected in November 2009, expressed his confidence that the main directions of the Arctic life development should be the scientific research, support of the indigenous people of the North and transport system development, since all the Arctic countries are interested in the Northern Sea Route development.
The Forum is organized with considerable help from the Russian Federation Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Federation Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, Arthur Chilingarov, Special Representative of the Russian President for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The partner of the Second International Arctic Forum «The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue» is the Northern (Arctic) Federal University (NArFU). The major part of the Forum will be held there.
The Forum’s media partner is RIA NOVOSTI, the Russian News and Information Agency.
