Today, Seminar in Brussels: the EU in the Arctic, the Arctic in the EU.
“Richard Tibbels (Richard Tibbels, Head of the Eastern Partnership, Regional Cooperation and OSCE Division at the European External Action Service), Erkki Tuomioja (Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland), Hannu Halinen (Arctic Ambassador of Finland), Alan Bowman (Deputy Head of Mission at the Mission of Canada to the European Union) and Lars Anders Baer (Senior member of the Working Group of Indigenous Peoples on the Barents Euro-Arctic Council) take part in the opening session of “The EU in the Arctic, the Arctic in the EU” seminar in Brussels, Belgium, 11 September 2014."
In the opening policy session of the seminar, four keynote speakers will present their unique perspectives of the Arctic, after which, a number of experts will lead engaging discussions on the important ongoing developments in the region. In the afternoon, members of the EUAIC consortium will present the results of the project’s insightful assessments, and examine information and communication gaps about the Arctic. The consortium will also present a compendium that outlines current Arctic initiatives and projects going on in European countries.
Understanding the EU’s impact on the Arctic starts with an efficient and effective use of scientific and fact-based information. Combining this scientific understanding with Arctic stakeholders’ in-depth knowledge and experience is crucial in properly addressing the challenges the Arctic will face. Only by effectively applying this information and engaging stakeholders from all backgrounds and levels (local, regional and global) can one fully comprehend the complexity of the changes happening in the Arctic and create a roadmap for the sustainable development of the region.The EU aims to be on the front lines when it comes to fostering sustainable Arctic development. By combining the different viewpoints of a wide variety of Arctic stakeholders, the EU-funded “Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of development of the Arctic” project has helped to clarify some of the most important Arctic development trends. This seminar will discuss the role of the EU in the Arctic, as well as the role of the Arctic in the EU. It will investigate information-sharing, policy-making and decision-making with the aim of further bridging current gaps between the Arctic and the EU.
See the whole program of the seminar from the www.arcticinfo.eu/en/seminar website.
