DAY 1: TUESDAY 20 FEBRUARY: Lunch / Registration MODERATOR: 11:00 Siri Lill Mannes 12:00 B2B event 13:30 Mayor’s welcome Rune Rafaelsen, Mayor of Sør-Varanger 13:40 Opening address Monica Mæland, Minister of Local Government and Modernisation (Norway) 14:00 Dialogue about the new region in the North Monica Mæland, Minister of Local Government and Modernisation (Norway) Ragnhild Vassvik, County Mayor of Finnmark Willy Ørnebakk, Chair of the Troms County Government 14:30 Part 1: Sustainable Resource Utilisation A tourism industry with sustainable growth Siri Lill Mannes Tarja Manninen, General Manager Inari-Saariselke Tourist Board Aquaculture towards 2050 Ulf Winther, Research Director, SINTEF Ocean Norway’s new wind power master Terje Skansen, CEO, Varanger Kraft The green shift meets future mineral requirements Elisabeth Gammelsæter, Secretary-General, Norwegian Mining Industry Balancing value creation with the environment Silje Ask Lundberg, Chair, Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature 15:30 Debate involving speakers Monica Mæland 16:00 Short break 16:30 Part 2: Barents Sea South-East Oil and gas activities follow the Gulf Stream eastwards Siri Espedal Kindem, Senior Vice President for Operations North, Statoil Concept development with focus on sustainability, locally and nationally Jorunn Kvaale, HSEQ Director, AkerBP Synergies in a seamless Barents Sea Halfdan Millang, Managing Director, Rosneft Nordic Oil Managing transboundary environmental threats Kirsti Slotsvik, Director General, Norwegian Coastal Administration Joint research, joint knowledge. An example of transboundary cooperation to be followed Geir Huse, Director of Research, Institute of Marine Research 17:30 Debate involving speakers 18:00 Summing up 19:30 Mingling dinner DAY 2: WEDNESDAY 21 FEBRUARY: 08:30 Part 1: Infrastructure for development MODERATOR: Siri Lill Mannes Strategic infrastructure in the North: Barents Port Kirkenes Ketil Solvik-Olsen, Minister of Transport and Communications (Norway) The Barents Region as a logistics hub Anne Berner, Minister of Transport and Communications (Finland) Traffic development of the future in the North Torbjørn Naimak, Regional Roads Manager, The Norwegian Public Roads Administration Dialogue Ketil Solvik-Olsen, Minister of Transport and Communications (Norway) Anne Berner, Minister of Transport and Communications (Finland) Torbjørn Naimak, Regional Roads Manager, The Norwegian Public Roads Administration Ketil Solvik-Olsen 10:00 Break 10:30 Part 2: Logistics Hub Barents Infrastructure needs in the Barents of the future Martti Hahl, Director, Promaco An Arctic railway vision Bjørn Johansen, county representative Finnmark Municipality and Rune Rafaelsen, Mayor of Sør-Varanger Activity and development of the Northern Sea Route Evgeniy Ambrosov, Senior Executive Vice-President, COO Sovcomflot The EU’s perspective of infrastructure and connection with the North Anne Berner Michael Cramer, Member of the EU Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism 12:00 Lunch 13:00 Part 3: The Strategic Barents Opening Address Ine Eriksen Søreide, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway) The balance between international and regional High North policy Cecilie Myrseth, Labour Party Members of Parliament The Barents Region is a central part of Arctic policy Marie-Anne Coninsx, EU Ambassador at Large of the Arctic Ine Eriksen Søreide Dialogue Ine Marie Eriksen-Søreide, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway) Anniken Huitfeldt, Norwegian MP and Chair of Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence Marie-Anne Coninsx, EU Ambassador at Large of the Arctic The programme for Wednesday Marie-Anne Coninsx continues on the next page DAY 2: WEDNESDAY 21 FEBRUARY: Part 4: Regional policy for MODERATOR: cooperation and development Siri Lill Mannes Priorities of the regional policy of the Murmansk region Aleksey Tyukavin, Vice Governor of Murmansk Oblast Important regional policy areas Anne Karin Olli, State secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation Important regional policy areas as seen from Finnmark Ragnhild Vassvik, County Mayor of Finnmark 15:00 Break 15:30 Part 5: Diverse Capital Prerequisites for economic growth in the north Øystein Dørum, Chief Economist, NHO Status and competence requirements in the Northern Cap Guillaume Lecaros de Cossio, OECD Aleksey Tyukavin How to respond to the competence requirements in the north? Anne Husbekk, Rector UiT The Arctic University of Norway and Bjørn Olsen, Rector Nord University 17:00 Summing up 18:00 Opening Barents Spektakle 19:00 Opening concert / mingling 20:30 Anniversary dinner The Barents Cooperation 25 years Øystein Dørum A special thanks to our main sponsor me industry DAY 3: THURSDAY 22 FEBRUARY: 08:30 Perspectives of the future Barents Cooperation MODERATOR: Siri Lill Mannes Reflections from the first 25 years of the Barents Cooperation Thorvald Stoltenberg in discussion with Siri Lill Mannes Dialogue as the basis for development Erik Lundberg, Finlands ambassador to Norway The indigenous people’s perspective of the Barents Region Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of the Arctic and Environment Unit, Saami Council The pulse in Russia Morten Jentoft, NRK’s Foreign Correspondent in Russia 09:45 Conclusion 10:00 Departure by bus from Thon Hotel to Høybuktmoen Airport Thorvald Stoltenberg Thanks to all our sponsors Henriksen Shipping Service THE KIRKENES CONFERENCE HAS AN APP! 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