Representatives from Russia, the United States, Canada, China, and the Republic of Korea were invited as speakers for the foresight session 'Pacific Northern Forum: Designing[...]

Representatives from Russia, the United States, Canada, China, and the Republic of Korea were invited as speakers for the foresight session "Pacific Northern Forum: Designing Connectivity and Sustainability." The session was moderated by Vladimir Vasiliev, Executive Director of the Northern Forum.

Representatives from Russia, the United States, Canada, China, and the Republic of Korea were invited as speakers for the foresight session "Pacific Northern Forum: Designing Connectivity and Sustainability." The session was moderated by Vladimir Vasiliev, Executive Director of the Northern Forum.

The Pacific region has acquired immense significance due to the escalating military conflict in the Middle East, as well as the development of the Northern Sea Route. This creates favorable conditions for the Northern Forum to establish effective mechanisms for fostering cooperation in this area.

As Ambassador Anton Vasiliev noted, this region will soon account for two-thirds of the global economy and is becoming a hub for the development of new technologies. Consequently, the Northern Forum must work not only to restore its North Pacific dimension but also to strive for a broader scope. There are no other organizations or platforms for this purpose in the region. The Russian-American Pacific Partnership has ceased to exist, while the Association of North East Asia Regional Governments (NEAR) has no intentions of expanding toward North and South America, or Australia and Oceania.

Last year, the Northern Forum and Vancouver-based company Knowlex International (Canada) signed a cooperation agreement. Tatiana Domilovskaya, Managing Partner of the company, spoke about the launch of online webinars. The first of these was conducted for Canadian business representatives and experts, featuring a discussion on the prospects of the Northwest Passage. Moving forward, there are plans to expand the geographical reach of these webinars to support the initiative of creating the Northern Forum's Pacific Platform.

Paul Fuhs, a Northern Forum Goodwill Ambassador from Alaska, shared his vision of developments in the near term and highlighted the increased interest from South Korea. The Mayor of Busan visited Alaska earlier this year, and a reciprocal visit by an Alaskan delegation to Busan is scheduled in a month. Mr. Fuhs will represent the interests of the Northern Forum during this trip, and there is a high probability of establishing productive contacts.

Professor Wang Wen, Executive Dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, believes that five areas of cooperation are possible in the Pacific region: 1) Maritime governance; 2) Arctic shipping routes and energy; 3) Non-traditional security; 4) Regional connectivity; and 5) Scientific research and environmental protection. The five nations could begin by ensuring law enforcement in fisheries, Arctic shipping, maritime search and rescue operations, as well as scientific research and environmental protection. Cooperation could then gradually expand into transport infrastructure, production chains, and people-to-people exchanges, shaping a new model of regional cooperation that is open, inclusive, impartial, and mutually beneficial.

Mr. Lim Hyung-jun, Representative of the Autonomous Province of Gangwon in Russia, also addressed the development of the Pacific Partnership from the perspective of pooling efforts to develop transport routes and the Northern Sea Route. Ferries operate from Vladivostok to Gangwon (connecting to the seaports of Donghae and Sokcho), and the region is keenly interested in restoring cooperation with the Northern Forum.