Kirkenes and Murmansk important
OSLO: -Both Kirkenes and Murmansk play key roles in the development of the Barents Sea, Sergei Lavrov and Jonas Gahr Støre say.
According to Lavrov, Kirkenes and Murmansk play “decisive roles” in the future developments in the Barents Sea. He is echoed by Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre who says to BarentsObserver that the two cities are “very important”.
The two foreign ministers on Tuesday met in Oslo to exchange ratification protocols on the Agreement on the delimitation of the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean.
Kirkenes could become a Norwegian hub for industrial activities in the now delimited Arctic waters. The town is strategically very well situated on the coast of the Barents Sea, only a few kilometers from the border to Russia, and has a well developed port, deep waters and all-year ice-free conditions. Murmansk is on the other hand with its 320 thousand people the biggest city north of the Arctic Circle. The region, which from before hosts the powerful Northern Fleet and major fish industry interests will in the future also get an important role as centre for the Russian offshore petroleum industry.
Lavrov highlights to BarentsObserver that the area is important also because of the introduction of local visa-free traveling between the municipalities of Sør-Varanger (Norway) and Pechenga (Russia). The Agreement on Local Border Traffic, which was signed in November 2010, is the first of its kind introduced between Russia and a Schengen country.
Read also: First opening in the Schengen-regime with Russia
The two foreign ministers in 2008 made an unprecedented joint visit to Kirkenes and Murmansk. After first having spent a day in Kirkenes, the two ministers together crossed the Norwegian-Russian border and went on to the city of Murmansk.
