New project to improve logistics and transport in the Arctic
ARKHANGELSK: Russian and Norwegian interests met in Arkhangelsk last week to discuss a new project aimed at a fast improvement of conditions for logistics and transport in Arctic areas.
The project focuses on four transport hubs in the area where the Northern Maritime Corridor meets the Northern Sea Route, says Harald Sørensen, Project Coordinator for the Northern Maritime Corridor and adviser in the Norwegian Barents Secretariat. The four hubs are Kirkenes, Norway, and Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Naryan-Mar in Russia.
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The partners in the project – which is still in a very early stage – wish to list concrete short-time investments that can be made in the four hubs in course of the next one-two years.
Arctic transport and especially use of the Northwest Passage as a route from Europe to Asia has evolved much faster than anyone expected only a few years ago, and 2010 will probably be marked as the breakthrough year for commercial shipping along the Northern Sea Route.
Central Arkhangelsk actors like the customs services, border guard services and port authorities took part in last week’s meeting in Arkhangelsk. From the Norwegian side participated representatives from Finnmark County, Troms County, the Norwegian Barents Secretariat and Tschudi Shipping.
The next meeting in the project is planned to be held in Arkhangelsk or Kirkenes in December, Sørensen says to the BarentsObserver.
