Finland Times

The University of Lapland and its Arctic Centre, the City of Rovaniemi, and the Arctic Society of Finland organised the conference under a series on the theme “Spirit of the Rovaniemi Process – Local and Global Arctic.”

The speakers in the opening plenary were former prime minister of Finland Paavo Lipponen, US Ambassador Charles C Adams, Jr, Japanese Ambassador Kenji Shinoda, EU Committee of the Regions President Markku Markkula, and Arctic Economic Council Chair Tara Sweeney.

In the closing plenary, representatives from the Saami Council, Denmark, Russia and Finland made presentations and held a panel discussion.

“The idea came from the fact that the official Arctic cooperation was ‘born’ in Rovaniemi in the so-called ‘Rovaniemi Process’ 1989-1991 and the first Arctic ministerial level meeting was held in Rovaniemi. The Foreign Ministry of Finland has been kept well informed on the preparations all through,” Markku Heikkilä, head of Science Communications at Arctic Centre told Finland Times.

The first conference of the series took place in December 2013 which, according to the press paper, presented the latest research results about the ‘global processes as local realities.’ Besides, the conference discussed global challenges in the Arctic from the perspective of environmental protection and sustainable development.

“The 2013 conference looked more to the origins of the Rovaniemi process. In 2015, we have discussed more the current issues on global and regional Arctic cooperation,” said Heikkilä.

The next conference under the series will be held in November 2017 when Finland chairs the Arctic Council.

“In 2017, Finland will celebrate its 100 years of independence. Our hope is that the 2017 conference will look to the future and also be one of the main events during the Finnish Arctic Council chairmanship,” added Heikkilä.