The Conference on the Economic Development of the Arctic

St. Petersburg June 18, 2016

The Conference on the Economic Development of the Arctic will take place as part of the 20th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

 business programme

PROGRAMME

For more information about the programme, please visit the official website of the Conference on the Economic Development of the Arctic (click here)

Download programme (print version)

09:00–09:30

Welcome coffee

09:30–11:30

Panel Session 1.1: Effective Management of the Arctic Territories. Support Areas and Investment Potential of the Regions

Congress Centre, Conference Hall D2

The development plan for the Russian Arctic is the most complex and sweeping project proposed in recent years. Its implementation will require vast resources, investments, and special management tool designed specifically to coordinate the work of multiple parties, develop infrastructure while ensuring safety, and protect national interests within a programme of international cooperation.

The Russian Arctic’s potential must be utilized effectively to attract investment and new technologies. In view of this, the Socioeconomic Development of the Arctic Region of the Russian Federation programme, which relies on the territorial principle and the creation of ‘support areas’, is currently under revision.

Key Issues:

-     Priority areas for the development of the Russian Arctic;

-     Effective approaches to the management of the Arctic regions;

-     Developing the investment potential of the Arctic regions;

-     Major investment projects in the Arctic.

 

Moderator: Aleksandr Tsybulskiy, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation

Speakers:

-     Egor Borisov, Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

-     Mikhail Grigoryev, Director, Gecon; Member of the Scientific Council under the Security Council of the Russian Federation

-     Marina Kovtun, Governor of Murmansk Region

-     Roman Kopin, Governor, Head of the Government of Chukotka Autonomous Area

-     Igor Orlov, Governor of Arkhangelsk Region

-     Andrey Patrushev, Deputy CEO, Shelf Projects Development, Gazprom Neft

-     Timo Rautajoki, President, CEO, Lapland Chamber of Commerce

-     Aleksey Rakhmanov, President, Member of the Board of Directors, United Shipbuilding Corporation

-     Andrey Shishkin, Vice-President for Energy, Localization and Innovation, Rosneft

09:30–11:30

 

Panel Session 1.2: The Arctic Welcomes Other Regions

Congress Centre, Conference Hall  D4

The Arctic’s environment calls for specifically designed technologies, products, and services, as well as a special template for cooperation between the various regional players. Cooperation between different regions of the Arctic and beyond must play a central role in this process. The economic and scientific potential of Russia’s regions must be used to their fullest extent in order to meet the challenges facing the Arctic.

Key issues:

-      Inter-regional cooperation for Arctic development;

-      Investment prospects for non-Arctic regions contributing to Arctic development;

-      The scientific and industrial potential of non-Arctic regions in relation to Arctic exploration;

-      Arctic projects in business development strategies.

Moderator: Aleksandr Khodachek, President, National Research University Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg

Speakers:

-     Georgiy Korshunov, Member of the Working Group on Development of Education and Science, State Commission for Arctic Development; Member of the Joint Working Group on Education and Research, Barents Euro-Arctic Council; Vice-Rector for External Affairs, Ukhta State Technical University

-     Valery Mitko, President, Arctic Public Academy of Science; Deputy   Co-Chairmen of the Polar Commission of the Maritime Council under the Government of St. Petersburg

-     Esko Mustamäki, CEO, Arctech Helsinki Shipyard

-     Aleksey Nikitchenko, CEO, O2 Consulting; Vice-President, NISSE

-     Mikhail Pogodaev, Executive Director, Northern Forum

-     Viktor Tolokonsky, Governor of Krasnoyarsk Territory; Chair,

Northern Forum

-     Nikolay Kharitonov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Regional Policy and Issues of the North and Far East

11:30–12:00

Coffee break

12:00-14:00

Plenary Session: International Cooperation for the Development of the Economic Potential of the Arctic zone

Congress Centre, Conference Hall D1

Until fairly recently, there was no suggestion that the Arctic marine environment would become navigable, and that huge deposits of hydrocarbons and minerals would be discovered on the Arctic shelf (which would promote the development of large-scale commercial projects). Today, these facts both pose global challenges and offer points of potential cooperation between states.

The Arctic is now a foreign policy priority area for all of the Arctic nations. Moreover, nations outside the Arctic region, such as Vietnam, China, Singapore, and South Korea, have recently expressed an increased interest in Arctic development.

Wide-ranging international cooperation in the Arctic is the key to the stable development of the region.

Key issues:

-     Business as the foundation for international cooperation in the Arctic;

-     Promising international projects in the Arctic region;

-     Assistance from Arctic nations for business cooperation in the Arctic;

-     The presence of Russia's non-Arctic partners in the Arctic.

Moderator — Yevgeny Lukyanov, Deputy Secretary, Security Council of the Russian Federation

 

Speakers:

-     Vladimir Barbin, Ambassador at Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs  of the Russian Federation

-     Oleg Budargin, Director General, Chairman of the Management Board, Russian Grids (Rosseti)

-     Tero Vauraste, President and CEO, Arctia; Vice Chair, Arctic Economic Council

-     Sergey Donskoy, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation

-     Paavo Lipponen, Prime Minister of Finland (1995–2003)

-     Lou Naumovski, Vice President, General Director of the Moscow Representative Office, Kinross Gold Corporation

-     Frederik Paulsen, Member of the Board of Trustees, Russian Geographical Society; Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation in Lausanne (Switzerland)

-     Mikhail Slipenchuk, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection; Head of Delegation of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation at The Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region

-     Sergey Frank, President and CEO, Sovcomflot; Member of the Presidium at the Maritime Board under the Government of the Russian Federation

-     Denis Khramov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, NOVATEK

-     Artur Chilingarov, Special Representative to the President of the Russian Federation on International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic; President, Russian Association of Polar Explorers

14:00–15:00

Lunch

15:00-17:00

Panel Session 2.1: Unified Transport Infrastructure in the Region: The Global Importance of the Northern Sea Route

 

Congress Centre, Conference Hall D2

 

Creating a common transport infrastructure and equipping the Arctic with proper transport links is a priority area for development. This includes developing the Northern Sea Route, polar aviation and airport infrastructure, sea ports, and railway access to the ports. The Arctic transport system must become an integral part of Eurasian transport corridors. One important step in this direction is the level of interest transport and logistics companies based in Southeast Asia have shown in using the Northern Sea Route. In addition, the economic performance of the Arctic transport system could benefit from fine-tuned supply chains and synchronized delivery schedules in the Arctic regions.

 

Key issues:

-     Increasing the efficiency and commercial appeal of the Northern Sea Route;

-     Modernization and development of the infrastructure of the Arctic transportation system;

-     The role and place of the Arctic in Eurasian transport corridors;

-     Increasing the accessibility of air transport for the population of the Arctic;

-     Implementing large-scale rail transport projects: the Northern Latitudinal Railway, the construction of access routes to Arctic ports;

-     Synchronization of the process for effective provision of goods for the Arctic region.

Moderator: Konstantin Noskov, Head, Analytical Centre for the Government of the Russian Federation

Speakers:

-     Viktor Ikonnikov, Deputy Chairman of the Government of Arkhangelsk Region

-     Vladimir Korchanov, First Vice President, Far Eastern Shipping Company

-     Viktor Olerskiy, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation; Head, Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport

-     Nikolay Pegin, General Director, Development Corporation of Kamchatka

-     Dmitry Purim, Chairman of the Board, Sovfracht

-     Aleksandr Roslyakov, CEO, Onego Shipping

-     Vyacheslav Ruksha, Director General, Atomflot

-     Kirill Stepanov, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East

-     Aleksey Tyukavin, First Deputy Governor of Murmansk Region

-     Ivan Frolov, Director, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute

15:00–17:00

Panel Session 2.2: Discover the Arctic, Fall in Love with the Arctic

Congress Centre, Conference Hall  D4

The Arctic’s natural and cultural wealth have long attracted scientists, researchers, and travellers from all over the world. The region possesses huge potential for active recreation, extreme tourism, and educational travel. With the right approach, these sectors could lay the groundwork for a successful tourism industry in Russia’s northern regions. Acknowledging the role of indigenous people of the north in the socioeconomic development of the regions, special attention needs to be paid to the cultural and tourism potential of their traditional way of life and crafts. The Arctic region can only be developed if all Arctic nations and companies working in the Arctic show constant concern for environment safety

Key issues:

-     Development of the Arctic’s tourist potential;

-     Economic attractiveness of the traditional crafts and culture of the north;

-     Steps to preserve the cultural heritage of the Russian Arctic;

-     Ensuring the environmental safety of the region.

Moderator — Ildar Neverov, Head, Sever Group; Member of the Task Force for the Development of the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route, Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation

Speakers:

-     Dmitry Belanovich, Director of the Department for State Policy and Environmental Regulation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation

-     Lyubov Duyko, Deputy Chair for Legal Affairs of the Central Board, All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation; Member of the Working Group on Environmental Security and Rational Management of Natural Resources, State Commission for Arctic Development

-     Sargylana Ignatyeva, Rector, Arctic State Institute of Arts and Culture

-     Aleksandr Kirilov, Acting Director, Russian Arctic National Park

-     Elena Kudryashova, Rector, Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University

-     Andrey Mezhenko, Deputy Head, Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs

-     Oleg Safonov, Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism

-     Valentin Sidorin, Deputy General Director, Presidential Library named after Boris Yeltsin

-     Sergei Surkov, Deputy Governor of Nenets Autonomous Area for Federal Government Relations

-     Yury Khatanzeysky, Vice President on Government Relations, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East

Special presentation: Inge Solheim, polar explorer, Norway