Opening the meeting, KarRC RAS Vice-President N.V. Ilmast greeted the guests and thanked them for the interest in the Centre. He told about the history and present-day operation of KarRC RAS, and introduced the guests to the Centre’s staff and infrastructure. Head of the Department for International Cooperation P.V. Petrov provided information about the international projects in which KarRC RAS takes part, focusing mainly on ENI Crossborder Cooperation Programmes (Karelia, Kolarctic, South East Finland-Russia), as well as the “Green Belt of Fennoscandia” umbrella project. S.A. Murzina, Head of the Ecological Biochemistry Laboratory of the Institute of Biology KarRC RAS, told about the projects implemented at the Institute of Biology jointly with Norwegian partners, and about the prospects for these interactions.

Having discussed potential future cooperation, in particular in the matters of Arctic and Barents Region development, Consul General of Norway in St. Petersburg Dag Malmer Halvorsen and Head of the Culture and Communications Department of the Consulate Ekaterina Lavrinaitis came up with a proposal for KarRC RAS to consider the possibility of co-organizing an exhibition in Petrozavodsk this autumn, covering various aspects of living in a polar night. This exhibition, prepared by the Norwegian University of Tromsø, has already been successfully displayed in several Russian cities.