Today at the Arctic Frontiers international conference, another forum was the topic of an afternoon’s discussion.
Eilis Quinn, RCI journalist and editor of Eye on the Arctic joined us for a look at day two of the conference
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Much discussion today revolved around the Arctic Council, a high level circumpolar inter-governmental organization that focuses on sustainable development and environment issues. Chairmanship of the organization rotates among member nations every two years.
More specifically the discussion concerned a department set up during Canada’s two-year period as chair of the Arctic Council from 2013 to 2015.
This separate sub-organization was called the Arctic Economic Council (AEC). This body was to focus on business development in the far north and be comprised of business representatives who would advise the higher level Arctic Council on business issues.
The idea did not meet with widespread favour at the time, mostly due to fears from the Arctic business community that large multi-national interests would dominate in influence and push aside small and medium sized business already in the north.
“With the AEC there was that misconception that it would be open to large multinational organizations with very little opportunity for small and medium sized enterprises, ” said Tara Sweeney, the AEC chair. “That’s a myth. One of the antidotes to poverty is though economic & employment opportunity. Small and medium-sized businesses help fuel that at it’s is extremely important to the future of the organization.”
As Eilis found out during discussions today at Arctic Frontiers, now that the AEC has been set up in Tromso, Norway, many are now saying the Canadian initiative was a step in the right direction for development in the north.
“There’s been more signings of MoUs (Memorandums of Understanding) between different northern regions because of the AEC ,” said Halldor Johannsson, executive director of Arctic Portal in Akureyri, Iceland who attended the Arctic Frontiers Tuesday session on the AEC. “We’ll see what happens in future but at least it’s become a place of discussion for people in the Arctic that haven’t had a regular venue to discuss and meet over business issues.”
Eilis notes however, that not everyone is completely convinced pointing out that Sami reindeer herders still are indicating their doubts about the AEC and development in their regions.
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