AC session will be productive, significant-view

NUUK (Greenland), May 11 (Itar-Tass) - The forthcoming seventh session
of the Arctic Council (AC), which is to be held here on Thursday, will be
"not only highly productive but it will will also mark a frontier",
Ambassadoir at Large Anton Vassiliyev, Russia's representative at the AC,
has told Itar-Tass in an interview. As a member of the Committee of Senior
Officials he participated in preparing final documents of the session.
"The point is that this time we do some things for the first time in
the history of the AC: the first PanArctic legally binding document has
been prepared for signature by the Ministers: an agreement on cooperation
in aerial and sea search and rescue. Russia and the United States
co-chaired the talks that resulted in the preparation of the document
which is of great practicla value and is of great political significance.
By concluding it, Arctic countries manifested their ability to reach
accords," Vassiliyev said.
"Sweden during its forthcoming presidency in the AC in 2011-2013
intends to maintain the pace. Talks are already under way on a new
document -- an agreement on cooperation in the prevention of oilspills in
the Arctic and onefforts to eliminate their aftermath. An appropriate
ministerial decision and a mandate for work are being prepared. The
future document is of importance for both protecting the fragile
environment in the Arctic and for finding a proper balance between
environmental interests, on the one hand, and for the prospecting and
extraction of oil in the Arctic, on the other. Russia will co-chair the
upcoming talk as well", Vassiliyev went on to say.
"It is expected that a decision will be taken to invigorate the Arctic
Council, for the participating countries have arrived at a conclusion that
its arrangements lag behind the requeirements of the times. It is panned
to estblish a permanent secretariat of the AC while AC decisions will
increasingly often assume a legally binding nature," he pointed out.