The Arctic Future: Confrontation or collaboration?

The Arctic: Confrontation or collaboration? – Russia Direct.

The Arctic conference in Moscow, “The Arctic: Region of Development and Cooperation”, which was organized by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) on Dec. 2-3, brought together politicians, diplomats, academics, businessmen and environmentalists from the U.S., Russia, Canada and Europe.

Since the conference presented a unique opportunity to address common challenges in the Arctic and foster cooperation between countries, the organizers of the conference as well as most of the participants were optimistic about the future of the Arctic.

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“The Arctic region is a laboratory of new models for international collaboration that can be applied in other [less stable] regions,” said Andrey V. Kortunov, President of the New Eurasia Foundation and the General Director of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).
Artur Chilingarov, the Russian President’s Special Envoy for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic, doesn’t see any reason for future confrontation in the Arctic.  A large number of conferences dedicated to the Arctic indicate that there is growing interest in bringing stability to the region and more cooperation, according to him. 
The Arctic conference in Moscow indicates that there are a lot of unresolved issues that “we need to negotiate,” Chilingarov told Russia Direct.
David Balton, Ambassador for Oceans and Fisheries at the U.S. Department of State, echoes his Russian counterparts.
“I see the United States and Russia as continuing to collaborate in the Arctic for the foreseeable future because the interests of both of our nations overlap very significantly: We both want a stable and peaceful Arctic that can develop and also where we can protect the environment. So, there are no major policy differences between the U.S. and Russia or the other Arctic states.”
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