Representatives of both countries took part in the meeting of the Russian-Korean working group on Economy, Trade and Resources. The key topic of discussion was "Russian-Korean cooperation in the Arctic: the Northern Sea Route, shipbuilding, and Arctic shelf development."

The participants discussed the prospects for cooperation between Russia and South Korea in the Arctic. Special attention was paid to the intensification of maritime traffic along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), new opportunities for the growth of trade turnover between the countries, the development of tanker and icebreaker fleets, and the extraction of oil, gas and rare earth metals on the Arctic continental shelf.

The Director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute told the participants about new opportunities for scientific research, which have arisen due to a new format of drifting expeditions - with the support of the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform.

Without direct observational data, we cannot fully develop our scientific projects and predictive models. We cannot achieve truly breakthrough scientific results without international cooperation. The North Pole expedition can and should become a platform for renewed international cooperation, the Director stated.

The Korean side was represented by experts from Korea University, Yonsei University, Kunming University, Korea Maritime Institute (KMI), Gangneung-Wonju National University, Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO), Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Inha Technical College, Export-Import Bank of Korea, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), KRD Korean Coordinating Committee and other organisations.

Russian initiatives were represented by experts from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, ANO Project Management Centre “REC “North””, Saint Petersburg State University, Northern (Arctic) Federal University, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, Saint Petersburg University Arctic Research Centre, PAO NOVATEK, and State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom.

The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute is the oldest and the largest Russian research institution in the field of comprehensive studies of the Polar Regions. Over 100 years of scientific work the Institute's specialists have organised about 1,100 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica.

Source: AARI

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