The Barents Parliamentary Conference

Each BEAC chairmanship organizes a Barents Parliamentary Conference. As the chairmanships run on two year periods the parliamentary conference takes place once every other year. The participants can be elected members of local and regional as well as national and indigenous peoples’ assemblies in the Barents Region.  

The 6th Barents Parliamentary Conference, Harstad, Norway, April 22-24, 2013

The 5th Barents Parliamentary Conference, Luleå, May 18-20, 2011

The 4th Barents Parliamentary Conference, Syktyvkar, May 26-27, 2009 Resolution (English) (Russian) Press release

Photo above: The Bartents Parliamentarians meets the press after the 4th Barents Parliamentary Conference, Syktyvkar, May 26-27, 2009. Names from left to right:

• BEAC Chair 2007-2009 Mr. Anton Vasiliev
• Ms. Valentina Pivnenko, Spokesman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation
• Mr. Ivan Kristiansen, MP, Parliament of Norway
• Mr. Kent Olsson, MP, Parliament of Sweden, Vice President of the Nordic Council
• Ms. Tone Tingsgard, MP, Parliament of Sweden

The 3rd Barents Parliamentary Conference, Rovaniemi, June 11-12, 2007

The Finnish Parliament, arranged the third Parliamentary Barents Conference of national and regional parlamentarians from BEAC-states on 11-12 June 2007 in Rovaniemi, Finland. The previous Parliamentary Barents Conferences were held in Alta, Norway in 1999 and in Bodo, Norway in 2001.

The Rovaniemi conference had three main topics:

• Environmental issues including climate and energy
• Health and social wellbeing including communicable diseases
• Transport and logistics including cross-border traffic

The conference discussed the items on the basis of the Political Declaration on the Northern Dimension Policy.

All the national parliaments from the Barents region were represented in the conference with the Russian Council of the Federal Assembly. Regional parlament representatives from all five Russian Barents regions participated in the conference as well.

Among the participants was also: 

• Baltic Assembly 
• Baltic Sea Region Parliamentary Conference 
• Nordic Council
• European Parliament
• Parliamentary Association of the North-West Russia
• Finnish and Norwegian Sami Parliaments
• Standing Committee of Parliamentarians in the Arctic Region
• plus several guests and observers