Two State Secretaries to Murmansk
The State Secretaries at the Ministries of Foreign Affairs in Finland and Norway will drive together to Murmansk today.
Finland’s Pertti Torstila and Norway’s Erik Lahnstein will first visit Kirkenes, the Norwegian border town to Russia, before they cross over to the Kola Peninsula and drive to Murmansk.
In Kirkenes, the two State Secretaries will visit the iron-ore mining company Sydvaranger Gruve AS that is set to officially open its mines on Tuesday. The two officials will also be briefed about the first ever shipment of iron ore from Europe to China via the Northern Sea Route. The vessel “MV NORDIC BARENTS” will leave the harbour of Kirkenes next week for its historic voyage.
Also Finland has a long historic interest in Arctic shipping. The vessel sailing from Kirkenes to China next week will be the first ever foreign flag bulk carrier, while the first non-Russian flag cargo vessel to sail the Northern Sea Route was the Finnish “MT UIKKU” that back in 1998 sailed from the Kola Peninsula to Provideniya with fuel cargo.
The great Finnish-Swedish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiold was the first to navigate the Northern Sea Route, also known as the Northeast Passage, when he sailed the vessel “Vega” for the first time from the northern coasts of Europe to Asia 1878-79.
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The two State Secretaries will in Murmansk meet with Norwegian and Finnish business, including some of the companies working with shipping and petroleum exploration in the Barents Sea.
On Thursday, the Norwegian State Secretary Erik Lahnstein will head the Norwegian delegation in the annual meeting in the joint Norwegian – Russian commission on nuclear safety. That meeting will also take place in Murmansk.