AEC presented at Arctic Council SAO meeting
On October 25-26th, the Arctic Council gathered in Oulu, Finland for a meeting of the Senior Arctic Officials. As part of the SAO meeting program, the Chair of the Arctic Economic Council, Mr. Tero Vauraste, presented an update on the activities of the AEC.
Cooperation
The 2017 Fairbanks declaration from the Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council encouraged closer cooperation between the Arctic Council and Arctic Economic Council. The AEC was invited to give an update of the activities of the organization to the Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs). The meeting took place in Oulu, Finland and was the first SAO meeting held during the Chairmanship of Finland (2017-2019).
Progress
In his presentation Mr. Vauraste highlighted the progress the AEC has made in a short period of time. After the formal creation in 2014, the AEC Secretariat was opened in Tromsø in 2015 and the Foundational documents of the organization were adopted at the Annual Meeting in 2016, opening the AEC for both Arctic and non-Arctic stakeholders.
Since its creation, the AEC has worked actively to strengthen its position as the voice of the pan-Arctic business community. To advocate for sustainable Arctic economic development and improved business-to-business connections between the different parts of the Arctic and the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, the AEC has organized numerous events and outreach efforts.
Working Groups
The first deliverable from the AEC Working Groups was published in January 2017 with the presentation of the Arctic Broadband report “Recommendations for an Interconnected Arctic.” The report was the work of the AEC Working Group on Telecommunications. As part of the work on Telecommunications the AEC has organized two Top of the World Arctic Broadband Summits. The first in Barrow, Alaska in June 2016 , the second in Oulu, Finland in June 2017.
In addition, the AEC has three more Working Groups: Responsible Resource Development, Arctic Stewardship and Maritime Transportation. AEC Working Groups are established based on the needs of the Arctic business community.
To read more about the plans end progress of our Working Groups, please visit: https://arcticeconomiccouncil.com/our-work/
