Regular meetings of the Barents Regional Council and Regional Committee under the Arkhangelsk region chairmanship were held in Umeå, Sweden, on March 24^th, 2015.

Key priorities of the Arkhangelsk region chairmanship are integration of environmental activities into all spheres of Barents cooperation, and special attention to missing links in the Barents transport infrastructure.

Main items on the agenda were the results of the international conference in Arkhangelsk “Ecological-economic cooperation in the Barents region – from problems towards search of joint solutions”, and flight route network development in the Barents region.

The conference held in Arkhangelsk on March 12^th gathered more than 150 experts from the Barents region. It outlined main problems of sustainable regional development. Conference participants discussed possibilities of joint actions of governmental bodies, businesses and non-governmental organisations of the Barents countries.

Regional authorities and transport experts are concentrating on quickest possible renewal of the international regular flight “Arkhangelsk – Murmansk – Tromsø”.

Alongside with neighbours

Arkhangelsk region has initiated a number of international forums to be held this year:

• III Arkhangelsk International Tourist Forum “Tourism in modern conditions. New guidelines” (May 28-30, 2015)
  
• Arkhangelsk Annual International Youth Forum “Team – 29” (8-12 July, 2015)
  
• International Forum of Young Entrepreneurs in Arkhangelsk (28-30 November, 2015)
  

BRC and RC members emphasized active work of Arkhangelsk region representatives in BEAR working groups on environment, transport and logistics, youth, tourism and other groups.

The last meeting of the Barents Regional Council under the Arkhangelsk region chairmanship will be held on October 14, 2015 in Oulu, Finland. There the regional chairmanship will be taken over by the province of Kainuu, Finland. On the next day, at the XV Ministerial Meeting of the Council of the Barents/EuroArctic Region the national chairmanship will be handed over to Russia.

Press-service of Arkhangelsk region government