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Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union

Submitted on 2019-03-07 10:08:27

Senior Officials Meeting of the Northern Dimension Initiative

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On 5 March 2019 Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Pankin took part in the 6th Senior Officials Meeting of the Northern Dimension (ND) initiative. In its framework Russia conducts project-based regional cooperation with the EU, Iceland and Norway. The event brought together a large number of representatives of the European Union institutions, EU Member States as well as observer states – Belarus, Canada and the US.

Participants discussed in detail the results of cooperation within the four ND partnerships – on Transport and Logistics, Environmental, on Culture and in Public Health and Social Well-being. The event took stock of the work of the ND Institute, Parliamentary Forum and Business Council carried out since the previous meeting held in Iceland in December 2016, laid out priorities for their further functioning. Importance of engaging youth in positive regional cooperation processes was stressed.

Practical discussion was held on cooperation challenges and tasks faced by Euro-Arctic and Baltic regions. The importance of combining efforts at different multilateral fora in Northern Europe was emphasised.

It was noted that the 10th Business Forum (St. Petersburg, 4 April 2019), 31th Meeting of the Committee of Senior Representatives within the Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (Moscow, 25-26 April 2019), Ministerial Meeting within the Partnership on Transport and Logistics (Oslo, 18 June 2019) as well as other events confirm high dynamics of work within ND that is not subject to fluctuations in political situation and provides a useful contribution to maintaining dialogue between Russia, European Union and other partners.