Popular Barents Ministers to Murmansk

When Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomes his three Barents colleagues to Murmansk next Wednesday, he is the one with longest experience as Foreign Minister in the Barents cooperation. Lavrov was appointed to the post by President Vladimir Putin in March 2004. Both in Russia and around the world, Lavrov is respected as a brilliant diplomat. Not as smiling as the one he succeeded, Igor Ivanov, but always focused and respected as a sophisticated negotiator.

Sergey Lavrov is representing the country in the world with most neighbouring countries. Despite the fact that Russia’s border to Norway is only 196 kilometres long, Lavrov has shown great interests to this particular border area. During his visit to Kirkenes and Murmansk in June 2008, Lavrov told reporters about the important role the international and Norwegian Barents Secretariats play in regional project cooperation between the two Barents member countries.

Alexander Stubb
The newest member of the family of Barents Foreign Ministers is 41 year old Alexander Stubb. When Stubb assumed office in April last year he represented something very new in Finnish foreign policy. A young, smiling and sporty Finnish Foreign Minister is in many ways a mirror of Finland itself after the country entered the European Union and made worldwide success with its Nokia cell phones.

Alexander Stubb was recently voted the country’s most positive person. Stubb is a former representative to the European Parliament. The Murmansk meeting is his first Barents Council meeting.

However, the three other Foreign Ministers Stubb will meet in Murmansk are not new to him. As the head of the Organization for security and cooperation in Europa (OSCE), Stubb got the difficult task to negotiate cease-fire between Russia and Georgia in the South-Ossetia crises in August last year. That task showed Stubb’s serious capacity as a world-class Foreign Minister. Stubb has also partly supported the Norwegian initiative to a closer security and defence cooperation between the Nordic Countries.

Jonas Gahr Støre
Norway’s Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, is time after time rated as Norway’s most popular and best minister. He is known for brilliant speeches and has during his first four years as Foreign Minister spent much time and efforts on attracting the attention of other state leaders around the globe to northern and Arctic issues.

Probably no other Foreign Minister has spent so much time on traveling and meetings within the Barents Region. And that includes Murmansk, where Støre now will go for the fourth time.

Jonas Gahr Støre surprised the audience in Murmansk after a speech during his first visit to the city in February 2006. Directly, and without manuscript, he answered several difficult questions from the Murmansk-audience related to problematic Norwegian-Russian relations in the north. Like the Norwegian coast guard’s arrests of Russian trawlers suspected for violating the fishing regulations in the protected waters around Svalbard.

Like Alexander Stubb, Jonas Gahr Støre also graduated abroad and speaks several languages.

Carl Bildt
Sweden’s Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, was appointed to his current post three years ago. He was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994, but abroad he is mainly known for his engagement as mediator in the Balkan conflict in the late 90ties.

Carl Bildt’s name is on the list of possible candidates to the post as European foreign minister, foreseen the Lisbon Treaty entering into force. Critics in Russia say Bildt is too tough on them, but Moscow however recently agreed to hold the up-coming EU-Russia summit in Stockholm, as reported on BarentsObserver.

Like Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre, Carl Bildt is also familiar to Murmansk when he arrives on Wednesday. Back in 1993, the first year of the Barents Cooperation, Carl Bildt visited Murmansk to inspect the progress of Russian reform and preparation for free and fair elections.

Economical cooperation
Not much have leaked out about what specific topics that might be on the agenda when the four prominent Foreign Ministers meet in Murmansk for the Barents Council meeting on Thursday morning, October 15th. But, one common interest among the ministers will for sure be on the agenda, the joint efforts to strengthen cross-border contacts between Russia, Norway, Finland and Sweden in the north.

In addition to the people-to-people networks within the Barents Cooperation, business and resources development across northern borders are an important task for the four countries. Just two hours after the Barents Council participants close the door after their be-annual meetings ends, the Murmansk Economical Foum open its doors for some 1.000 high profiled participants, including large delegations from Russia’s Nordic neighbors in the Barents Region.