PREVIEW - International Arctic Forum To Convene In St. Petersburg On April 9-10

ST PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th April, 2019) The two-day International Arctic Forum will open on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, gathering about 350 Russian and foreign businesses, as well as the region's heads of state to work out the socioeconomic development of the region and multilateral mechanisms for the exploitation of its resources.

The forum is expected to be attended by around 300 Russian and 46 foreign businesses, along with the Finnish, Icelandic and Russian leaders, and Norwegian and Swedish prime ministers.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov together with his counterparts from Norway and Denmark, Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide and Anders Samuelsen respectively, will discuss the Arctic's geopolitical and strategic role, as well as its economic potential as a major repository of energy resources.

The main plenary session on "an ocean of opportunity" in the region will include special addresses from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Icelandic leader Guoni Th. Johannesson, and prime ministers of Norway and Sweden � Erna Solberg and Stefan Lofven. The state of and prospects for bilateral relations, topical international matters and regional issues focusing on cooperation in the Arctic are expected to be discussed at the session.

Russia's successful Yamal LNG project and the country's follow-up project Arctic LNG-2 will be talked about at the session dedicated to the topic of the use of LNG in the Arctic, which will be attended by Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Dmitry Kobylkin and CEO of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev.

Other important topics that will be discussed throughout the two-day forum are prospects for the development of the Northern Sea route and the oil and gas complex, public health in extreme weather conditions and ways to reduce emissions while developing the Arctic's infrastructure.

The Arctic is an important strategic element in the domestic and foreign policies of all the Arctic nations � Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. Furthermore, economic interest in the region is increasing among non-Arctic nations, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, China, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and India.

The Arctic region is rich in a large variety of minerals. Primarily, it boasts an abundance of oil and gas. The Arctic contains approximately 22 percent of the world's undiscovered hydrocarbon resources, of which 13 percent is oil, 30 percent is natural gas, and 20 percent is gas condensate. Eighty-four percent of these resources are located on the shelf of the Arctic Ocean, and 16 percent in the territory of Arctic nations.