Dear Readers of BarentsSaga, Santa Claus may have started dealing out Christmas presents prematurely this year since all kind netizens and Barents freaks are now receiving the BarentSaga 3/2013 newsletter that contains a great deal of interesting information: on the Finnish BEAC Chairmanship for 2013-15; the new Action Plan on Climate Change adopted two weeks ago by the Environment Ministers of the Barents Member States; the Rovaniemi-process and its commemorative follow-up conference; the Barents Profile with an interview with Mr Alexei Kalinin from Arkhangelsk, new Chairman of the Regional Committee; the Barents Transport Ministers meeting in Narvik and the Joint Barents Transport Plan that was the main focus of the Ministerial. Time goes by quickly so you can now get acquainted with the priorities of the Finnish Chairmanship. The Action Plan on Climate Change is a major project comprising practically all BEAC working groups and a contribution to global efforts in this field. The Joint Barents Transport Plan addresses the concerns over the lack of adequate transport connections in the Barents region what can be described as the most pressing problem in the whole Barents cooperation – if people cannot travel conveniently in East-West direction one may just wonder how tangible results in various spheres can be achieved at all. But get on with reading the newsletter which gives some insight into Barents issues - not just a sigh of distress because of bad transport connections! Merry Christmas and a Happy Barents Year 2014! Ari Sirén, Head of the International Barents Secretariat December, 2013
"Twenty years of Barents cooperation showed that the most effective cooperation is reached in the spheres of the so-called “people-to-people” relations. I am convinced that mutual work will keep growing in these areas, as these are personal contacts between people, empathy and sympathy that are the foundation of any cooperation."
See also the previous issues of BarentSaga. Visit www.barentscooperation.org for more information BarentSaga is published by the International Barents Secretariat and the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland. Contributions to BarentSaga is very welcome! Thank you for your contribution to this issue of BarentSaga: Ulla Ahonen, Henna Haapala, Markku Heikkilä, Roy Hojem, Alexey Kalinin, Jani Kärppä, Jenni Lintula, Thomas Nilsen, Ari Sirén, Arto Vitikka and Marja-Leena Vuorenpää.