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Arctic Connectivity: Security Challenges and Economic Opportunities

invitation only · Arkadiankatu 23 H (courtyard), 2nd floor, Helsinki · 06.10.2021 13:30 - 15:00

invitation only
Speakers

invitation only

The Arctic is occupying an increasingly important position in connectivity between Asia and the Nordic-Baltic countries. This is not least because climate change opens up new economic opportunities to make use of the region’s vast resources and develop the northern transport routes. Along with possibilities, the need to ensure peaceful, norms-based and environmentally sustainable development in the Arctic region poses a complex challenge. Major powers have strategic interests at stake in the region, and great-power competition, especially between Russia and the United States but increasingly also China, is tightening. While geoeconomic competition is gathering speed, and environmental and human-rights concerns are on the rise, (hard) security issues have also returned to the discussions on the Arctic. Is the Arctic destined to become a battleground for geostrategic competition, or can connectivity and economic geography also drive forward integration and cooperation to the benefit of major powers and the Nordic-Baltic countries alike?

This seminar is also a book launch event for the publication “Nordic-Baltic connectivity with Asia via the Arctic: Assessing opportunities and risks”. You can download and read the publication here.

PROGRAMME:

Welcoming words:
Elisabeth Bauer, Director of the Office for the Baltic Countries, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Introduction of key findings of the book:
Kristi Raik, Director, Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS)

Chair:
Bart Gaens, Leading Research Fellow, FIIA

Panelists:
Harri Mikkola, Leading Research Fellow, FIIA
Helge Blakkisrud, Senior Researcher, Research Group on Russia, Asia and International Trade, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Frank Jüris, Research Fellow, Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS)
Yulia Yamineva, Senior Researcher, University of Eastern Finland Law School

Speakers

Welcoming words

Elisabeth Bauer

Director of the Office for the Baltic Countries, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Since 2015, Elisabeth Bauer is the Head of the KAS offices for the Baltic States, based in Riga/Latvia. Until October 2019 Elisabeth Bauer was the Head of the KAS offices for the Baltic States and the Nordic Countries based in Riga/Latvia. Since October 1st the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung has a new office in Stockholm which from now on will take care for the Nordic countries.Between 2010 and 2014 she was Head of the KAS regional office for Westphalia based in Dortmund/Germany which focuses first and foremost on political education. Between 2005 and 2010 she was Head of the KAS regional office in Saint Petersburg/Russia. Main topics of her work in the Baltic Sea region are foreign and security policy including the Arctic as well as the establishment and further improvement of networks between Germany and the countries around the Baltic Sea.

Introduction of key findings of the book

Kristi Raik

Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS)

Kristi Raik is the Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn since February 2018. She is also Adjunct Professor of International Relations at the University of Turku. She has previously served inter alia as a Senior Research Fellow and Acting Programme Director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki and an official at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. Raik has published, lectured and commented widely on EU foreign policy and European security, including the EU’s relations with Russia and the Eastern neighbours, EU global strategy and institutional aspects of EU foreign policy-making. She is also an expert on the foreign and security policies of the Baltic states. Raik has a PhD from the University of Turku.

Chair

Bart Gaens

Leading Research Fellow, FIIA

Bart Gaens works as Leading Research Fellow at the Global Security Research Programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, where he is in charge of a project on connectivity in the Indo-Pacific region. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki. He has published on Europe-Asia interregionalism and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) process, Japan’s foreign policy and regional role, India’s foreign policy and relations with the EU, domestic politics in Myanmar, and security-related issues in the Asian region. He has also (co)edited volumes and reports on connectivity, EU-Asia relations, the US-China rivalry, transatlantic relations, and Japan’s search for strategic partnerships.

Panelists

Harri Mikkola

Leading Research Fellow, FIIA

Harri Mikkola is Leading Researcher at the Finnish Foreign and Security Policy Project at FIIA. His research interests cover security and defence policy, national security of supply and societal resilience policies, and developments in the Arctic area. Prior to joining FIIA in 2011, Mikkola worked at the Finnish Defence Command, at the University of Tampere, Finland, and as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Minnesota, USA. Dr Mikkola holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Tampere.

Helge Blakkisrud

Senior Researcher, Research Group on Russia, Asia and International Trade, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

Helge Blakkisrud is Senior Researcher with the Research Group on Russia, Asia and International Trade at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo. He has served as Associate Professor at the Norwegian University Centre in St Petersburg, Russia, in 2005–2009 and 2018; as Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, in 2009–2010; Guest Lecturer at the OSCE Academy, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan since 2008; and Guest Lecturer, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo, in 2006, 2011, 2013 and 2021. For more than two decades, he has followed Russia’s Northern/Arctic agenda, especially the development of the executive vertical and governance structures, as well as problems of designing and implementing federal programmes for developing the Russian Arctic.

Frank Jüris

Research Fellow, Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS)

Frank Jüris is Research Fellow of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute (EFPI) at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn. His research is focused on China’s domestic and foreign policy, EU-China relations, China’s relations with the Central and Eastern European countries in the 16+1 format, and Sino-Russian relations. He holds a BA from Tallinn University and an MA from the University of Tartu. He also holds an MA in Asia-Pacific Studies from Taiwan National Chengchi University. He has gained valuable experience at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Delegation of the European Union to Taiwan and as NGO Mondo volunteer in Burma. He has also worked as Mandarin Chinese lecturer at the University of Tartu and Chinese studies visiting lecturer at Tallinn University.

Yulia Yamineva

Senior Researcher, University of Eastern Finland Law School

Yulia Yamineva is Senior Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland Law School and holds the title of docent in climate law and policy. Her work covers climate law and governance in international and national settings. She has contributed to several major UN reports and published in leading disciplinary and interdisciplinary academic journals, including Transnational Environmental Law, Environmental Science & Policy, and Nature Climate Change. Previously Yamineva worked for the UN Climate Change Convention Secretariat and the International Institute for Sustainable Development. Yamineva holds a PhD in International Studies from the University of Cambridge.