BAI On-line publication: Perspectives on the Barents Euroarctic Transport Area

At a meeting in Copenhagen in 1998 the member states of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council signed a “Memorandum of Mutual Understanding on the Development of the Barents Euro-Arctic Transport Area (BEATA)”. The main purpose of the BEATA is to create an integrated transport system in the region. This cannot be successfully accomplished without development of trans-border cooperation.

The geographical position and the size of the Russian Federation make it unavoidable and economically reasonable to use Russian territory and airspace as well as the Northeast Passage for laying transport communications from the Asian-Pacific region, China, and Central Asia to Europe and other world markets.

In his paper, down-loadable on this page, Prof. Lev Voronkov, Director of the Centre for North European and Baltic Studies (CNEBS) at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) MGIMO, makes an overview of the developments of logistics in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region. He considers the management and potential of its natural resources, views this against the larger context of the increasing importance of the Arctic for Russia, and Russia’s global role as a Eurasian Landbridge providing opportunities for rapid cross-continental freight of industrial goods.

The publication in English of this report is an outcome of the initial activities of the International Pomor Research Forum. Prof. Voronkov launched the idea to form this think-tank in April 2009. Its scope includes investigating the idea of a special economic zone (SEZ) in NW Russia. The Pomor Research Forum is under joint development by the CNEBS MGIMO and the Barents Institute.