Barents tour for US Ambassador

Barry White in Kirkenes and Murmansk – very impressed with the possibilities for the region.

In Murmansk, US Ambassador to Norway Barry White met with Yevgeny Nikora, speaker of the regional Duma, the local Bellona group and Vyacheslav Rukhsa, director of the nuclear icebreaker fleet.

- I am very impressed with the possibilities for the region and to learn more about the Barents cooperation, says Barry White.

Read also: Americans looking at Barents Sea oil

Rosatomflot director Vyacheslav Rukhsa offered the US Ambassador the services of Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet to US shipping interests in the Arctic. The meeting took place onboard the nuclear icebreaker “Lenin”, now serving as museum in the central harbour of Murmansk.

- We have the best icebreaker fleet to assist convoys of vessels, also American, along the Northern Sea Route, said the director of Rosatomflot.

See slideshow from Ambassador White’s visit to Murmansk.

Bellona Murmansk gave the Ambassador an update on the situation for NGOs working in Russia and discussed safety issues related to nuclear power plants following the accident with the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.

At the regional Duma (parliament), Barry White got an update on the regional political situation in Murmansk from speaker Yevgeny Nikora.

Nikora informed the Ambassador on the creation of Murmansk Transport Hub, one of the major business projects going on in the region supposed to increase the shipping from the important Russian Arctic harbour on the coast of the Barents Sea. Barry White asked Nikora about the new possibilities that could arise from a possible Russian membership in the World Trade Organization. The two also had an open discussion on the challenges for foreign businesses in Russia, like corruption and problematic changes in bureaucratic regulations.

At the end of his Murmansk visit, Barry White visited the local Jewish society in Murmansk. There are some 1,500 people in Murmansk connected to the city’s Jewish communities.

Ambassador Barry White’s tour was organized by the Norwegian Barents Secretariat and head of the secretariat Rune Rafaelsen was pleased to introduce the Norwegian – Russian regional network to the Americans.

- Developments in the Norwegian Russian border regions is not only for local players, it has a global interest for both businesses and politicians, says Rune Rafaelsen.

In Kirkenes, Ambassador White met with shipping interests, the mining company, politicians, border officials, police as well as visiting the “American Corner” at the local library.

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