On 13-15 September 2010 the 9th Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region was held in Brussels in which members of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation including the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic, well-known polar explorer Artur Chilingarov took part.
The conference discussed the following topics: sustainable management of living resources, cooperation in education and research, consequences of ice-melting. As a result a statement was adopted with recommendations addressed to the governments of the countries of the Arctic region, Arctic council and EU institutions.
At the conference the Russian position confirming the sufficiency of existing international legal and institutional basis of cooperation in the Arctic was presented. The special role of Arctic states in issues of sustainable development of the region was underlined. Russian representatives also shared general concerns regarding challenges the Arctic is facing, in particular connected to climate change and the need to promote the preservation of biodiversity.
The next 10th Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region will be held in 2012 in Iceland.
