Russia will remain an important partner in the Arctic Council, and the tensions at the international level should not affect this interaction, said to reporters, Minister of foreign Affairs of Norway Berg Brand during the international conference " Arctic frontiers, troms?.

The brand said that the cooperation in the Arctic is developing as a peaceful, it is based on foreign law and constructive dialogue, and Norway wants to support.

"I stress that the Russian Federation is an important partner in the Arctic Council, and must remain so," said the Minister.

Answering the question about the impact of sanctions the EU in connection with the situation in Ukraine on the relations between Norway and Russia, foreign Minister expressed the hope that "this is not really affected in a negative sense," on cooperation in the Arctic.

The Arctic Council is an International organization established in 1996 To protect the nature of the North polar zone. The Council consists of eight Arctic countries: Russia, USA, Denmark, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway.

Interest in the Arctic in the last few years, increases in the world - both among ordinary people, and from a position of political and economic interests of the different countries. For the Russian Federation the Arctic region is one of the priorities. In 2013 in the Russian Federation approved the strategy of development of the Arctic zone until 2020. Experts believe that within five to seven years, Russia can bring the scale expansion and research in the Arctic to the level of the " Golden age ", prishedshego 30-40-ies of the last century.

International conference " Arctic frontiers ", which is already the ninth time passes in the Northern Norwegian city of troms?, has become a platform for politicians, scientists from the Nordic countries to discuss the most serious and urgent problems related to economy, ecology, studies in the far North. The international forum was attended by about 1, 4 thousand delegates from the Nordic countries, and among them the Ministers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and France.

sections: Politics