Date: -

Time: 08:15 - 01:30

Link to event/ticket information: https://arcticeconomiccouncil.com/events/doing-business-in-the-arctic-kick-off-for-the-the-icelandic-arctic-chairmanships-in-washing-ton-d-c/

The Icelandic American Chamber of Commerce, the Embassy of Iceland in Washington D.C., the Arctic Economic Council, the Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School and the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute are proud to invite to a conference on Doing Business in the Arctic in Washington, D.C. on May 23, 2019 from 9 AM to 1:30 PM EDT. The event will be held at the Embassy of Iceland (2900 K Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20007, USA).

The conference is open for all (registration fee USD 25; includes breakfast and lunch buffet). For registration, please see here.

Conference Chair is Jon Sigurdsson, Chairman, Icelandic American Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO, Össur

Agenda on May 23, 2019:
08:15-09:00  Light Breakfast
—————————————–
09:00-09:05  Welcome Note: Ambassador Geir H. Haarde
—————————————–
09:05-09:20  Iceland´s Chairmanship of the Arctic Council
Gudlaugur Thor Thordarsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Iceland
—————————————–
09:20-10:20  Economic Drivers in the Arctic
Moderator: Halla Hrund Logadottir, Co-Founder, Arctic Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Panel:
Joe Balash, Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, U.S. Department of the Interior
Gylfi Sigfússon, Managing Director, Eimskip USA
Nagruk Harcharek, Director, UIC Lands
Inuuteq Holm Olsen, Minister Plenipotentiary and Head of Representation for Greenland, Danish Embassy, Washington DC
Lori Davey, Vice President of Enterprise Markets, GCI
—————————————–
10:20-10:50  Networking Break
—————————————–
10:50-11:10  Arctic Investment Protocol: In Conversation With Scott Minerd
Speaker
Scott Minerd, Chairman of Investments and Global Chief Investment Officer, Guggenheim
Interviewer
Mike Sfraga, Director, Wilson Center’s Polar Institute
—————————————–
11:15-12:15 Investing in the Arctic
Moderator: Anu Fredrikson, Director,  Arctic Economic Council
Panel:
Gudlaugur Thor Thordarsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Iceland
Hugh Short, Co-Founder and Chairman/CEO, Pt Capital
Patrick Arnold, Co-founder, New England Ocean Cluster
Douglas C. May, Director, Technology & Security Policy, International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. Department of State

—————————————–
12:15-12:30  Closing
Jon Sigurdsson, Chairman, Icelandic American Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO, Össur
—————————————–
12:30-1:30pm Lunch and Networking

Included in the $25 conference fee is breakfast and lunch buffet

Simultaneously on exhibit at the Embassy of Iceland in Washington D.C.:

GLACIER – Ragnar Axelsson

Glacier is an ode to Iceland’s glaciers by renowned documentary photographer, Ragnar Axelsson. Having grown up near the glaciers and flown his plane over them countless times since, Axelsson has a deep affinity for the ice that has shaped the country’s land and psyche, as well as his own lifelong fascination. With near-abstract black-and-white aerial images, and short reflective texts, Glacier is a breathtaking view of glacial forms, textures, and patterns as seen from a lyrical flight that starts above the clouds and ends at the sea.

The photographs, taken in the past ten years, are at once elemental and ethereal, dynamic and timeless, unfamiliar and intimate. A few minuscule human figures give an initial reference to the enormity of the glaciers, but the images soon lose all sense of scale, requiring a constant reassessment of our relationship to what we are seeing, and what in reality we are bearing witness to. Surface details of the ever-moving ice, brought into sharp relief by volcanic ash, show powerful natural forces at play, but unseen and unstoppable forces are also at work. Nothing can be done to prevent Iceland’s glaciers from melting away. Within the next two centuries, they will be gone forever.