FORESEEING THE EXPANSION OF COOPERATION

NOT OLD BARRIERS BUT NEW FORMS OF COOPERATION

Foreseeing the Expansion of Cooperation

Ioran Persson

1) The 1999 - 2001 strategy of cooperation with Russia, developed by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, puts special emphasis on the interest which Sweden takes in the deepening of relationship between the two countries. Special attention is called to the development of cooperation within the framework of the Barents and Arctic Councils. What has already been done in this sphere? What projects are being implemented? Are these projects in any way connected with Russia's Northern regions? Stocgolm

        - Northern Europe, the region that surrounds the Baltic Sea, is one of the European continent's most dynamic growth regions. We have large natural resources, skilled people, advanced academic institutions and highly specialised enterprises in telecommunications, biotechnology, space research and other growth sectors. In this region, we are replacing old barriers with new forms of cooperation. Increased prosperity provides for expanding markets, and vice versa. Today we are enhancing security in Northern Europe through economic and political cooperation, not through traditional military means.
        The Barents Council is working on issues such as environment, youth, forestry, trade and investment, customs and border crossings, health and infectious diseases, energy saving and efficiency, transportation, culture etc. The Russian part of the Barents region comprises the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblasts, the Republic of Karelia and the autonomous Nenets region. Other regions, such as the republic of Komi, participate in certain activities.
        The Arctic Council mainly focuses on research-oriented environmental work relevant to the whole of the Arctic region, i.e. its work refers to the whole of the Russian North. Special emphasis is put on sustainable development and issues related to indigenous peoples.

2) What do you think of Sweden's participation in the programmes, developed by the so-called Northern Dimension of the European Union? To what extent these programmes, as well as Sweden's participation in them, relate to Russia's North and Northwest? What is the meaning of these programmes for Sweden?

        - The EU's Northern Dimension is a new policy initiative that addresses the Union's relations with seven partner countries in Northern Europe: (Northwest) Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway and Iceland. The first Action Plan for the EU's Northern Dimension was endorsed by the European Council in Feira in June this year.
        The aim of the Northern Dimension is to attract the attention of the EU to Northern Europe's dynamic potential, to develop new forms of cooperation across the external borders of the EU, to prevent the creation of new normative divides between countries and regions and to ensure continued close regional cooperation between all the countries of Northern Europe.
        The Baltic Sea and Barents regions are key areas for enhanced cooperation between the EU and Russia. The EU is by far Russia's main foreign trade partner. Today, the EU's share of Russian foreign trade is 40%, that share will grow to 50% after EU enlargement. The Baltic Sea region represents the main gateway for Russian trade with the rest of Europe.
        The Northern Dimension will have a prominent place in the up-coming Swedish EU Presidency. We see it as our task to make sure that this policy initiative will be further developed and that it will become a permanent feature in the work of the European Union. My vision is a great future for Northern Europe.
        Nowhere else in Europe has regional cooperation become so profound and intense as in the Baltic Sea and Barents regions. The Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) have been a kind of forerunners to other regional organisations in Europe. The volume of practical cooperation activities is incomparable. There is a formidable cobweb of specialised structures that provide for contct on all levels.
        Decentralised cooperation between provinces, cities and municipalities lead to further contacts, more trade and development, like circles on the water. The CBSS has the same membership as the geographical area defined for the Northern Dimension. That gives the CBSS a unique possibility to provide political and practical input in support of th Northern Dimension, together with more specialised regional organisations such as the Task Force on Organised Crime in the Baltic Sea Region, Baltic 21, and regional environmental institutions such as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM).

3) Does Sweden take interest in the development of natural resources of the Russian North? Will the development of the Northern Sea Route influence upon the development of the Swedish economy and foreign trade?

- The rich natural resources of the Northern parts of Russia, not least in the field of energy, are of course not only of interest to Sweden, but to many other countries in Europe and the rest of the world as well. In this connection, however, it is important to underline that the exploration of natural resources of almost any kind takes place in a "competitive environment". That is, the exploration of a certain commodity in the Russian North must be organised in such a way, and under such conditions, that the price of the commodity is competitive on the world market. This is a complex issue, which includes many different factors, from legal and fiscal conditions to transport and infrastructure. The only way to attract foreign investment to that region is to create such favourable conditions.
The same goes for the Northern Sea Route, which could develop into an important traffic corridor between Europe and the Far East. But here again: if this Route can compete with other, already existing ones when it comes to costs, time and reliability of transportation, then it will also be able to attract investors and customers who will use it.

) Swedish official documents pay great attention to the cooperation with Russia in the field of environmental protection and investment projects. But they mostly take the Barents region into consideration. We should like to know if Sweden takes interest in ecological projects connected with Russia's remote Arctic regions.

        - It is true that we pay great attention to various forms of cooperation with the Russian parts of the Barents Region. But I would like to stress that our interest is not limited to the Barents Region only, but rather we foresee expanded cooperation with the whole of the North-western part of Russia, from Kaliningrad and Novgorod in the South to Murmansk and Archangelsk in the North.
        When it comes to environmental issues, for example, we have a very strong interest to cooperate on pollution reduction with those parts of Russia that are situated in the vicinity of the Baltic Sea, i.e. Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad and Kaliningrad oblasts. Also when it comes to investment, Saint Petersburg and Leningrad's oblasts have been the main areas of activity.
        We have not been particularly active in the more remote Arctic regions of Russia further towards the east. Russia is such a vast country that we feel that we should concentrate our resources and capacity on those parts of Russia that are geographically closer to us and that we are more familiar with. In the context of the Arctic Council, we are however, also taking part in certain projects that are relevant to the eastern parts of the Russian far North.