The third Arctic Circle Assembly will be held, as the previous years, in Reykjavik, on October 16-18, 2015. However, this year,for the first time, two additional events will be hosted, the first in Alaska (August 23-25, 2015) and the second in Singapore (November 12th, 2015), both under the umbrella of the Arctic Circle Assembly.
The Arctic Circle Forum in Alaska, August 23–25, 2015
The Arctic Circle in cooperation with Alaskan partners and authorities invites decision-makers, experts, business and political leaders and others for a forum on Arctic shipping and port development, August 23–25, 2015, at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, Alaska.
The goal of the forum is to articulate plans and facilitate partnerships for developing safe, secure and reliable shipping through the Arctic, with a focus on the Bering Sea and other Arctic sea routes. At this stage of Arctic development, public- and private-sector cooperation will be essential to good outcomes. Similar partnerships in the past helped create the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Panama and Suez Canals. The meeting will lead to the establishment of an Arctic Circle task force on shipping.
The forum is being hosted by the State of Alaska and partners, including President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson of Iceland; Alice Rogoff, publisher of Alaska Dispatch News; and Mead Treadwell, president of Pt Capital and former Alaska lieutenant governor, in cooperation with Governor Bill Walker and legislative leaders.
Attendees will work toward the following goals:
- Plans for safe and reliable global shipping practices that protect the hunting and fishing activities of our Arctic residents and our environment
- Public, private and intergovernmental cooperation models to produce the necessary infrastructure investments to reach these goals
- The establishment of a task force that will develop further partnerships necessary to offer global shippers a regular, safe, secure and reliable shipping system in the Arctic
- Interested participants can establish contact and seek further information here.
The Arctic Circle Assembly, Reykjavik, October 16-18 2015
The Arctic Circle is designed to increase participation in Arctic dialogue and strengthen the international focus on the future of the Arctic. Participating organizations will maintain their full institutional independence, identity and decision-making abilities. To this end, the Arctic Circle aims to create opportunities for everyone to attend different meetings, conduct their own networking and engage in one-on-one informal discussions. Organizations will be able to decide their own agendas and convene their own meetings.
The Arctic Circle will organize sessions on a variety of issues, such as:
- Sea ice melt and extreme weather
- Polar law: treaties and agreements
- The role and rights of indigenous peoples
- Security in the ArcticShipping and transportation infrastructure
- The prospects and risks of oil and gas drilling
- Clean energy achievements and sustainable developmentArctic resources
- Business cooperation in the Arctic
- The role of Asian and European countries in the Arctic
- Greenland in the new Arctic
- Fisheries and ecosystem management
- The science of ice: global research cooperationArctic tourism
- The ice-dependent world: the Arctic and the Himalayas.
- This year, over 90 breakout session proposals have been submitted.
- For more information, click here.
- You can register now, click here.
The Arctic Circle Forum in Singapore, November 12th, 2015
The Arctic Circle will, in addition to the annual October Assemblies in Iceland, convene smaller and more specialized forums in other countries. In cooperation with Singapore Maritime Institute and the Government of Singapore an Arctic Circle Forum will take place in Singapore on November 12th 2015.
An agenda will be published in the coming weeks. Those interested in attending can contact the Arctic Circle Secretariat.
For more information, click here.