07 October 2016 - 09 October 2016
Reykjavík, Iceland

Arctic Circle Assembly

Representatives from IIASA and the Arctic Futures Initiative took part in events and meetings as part of the annual Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland. 

© www.arcticcircle.org

© www.arcticcircle.org

The Arctic Circle Assembly gathers science, policy, and business representatives and is hosted by H.E. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, former President of Iceland (1996-2016). The aim of the meeting is to facilitate networking and working meetings across disciplines, issues and organizations, and essentially also discussions hosted by nations and a variety of international and Arctic institutions.

The meeting program in 2016, similar to previous years, was built on plenary sessions until mid-afternoon and a large number of parallel breakout sessions based on an open call for sessions. This year the Assembly gathers over 400 speakers, some 2,000 participants at the Harpa Conference Center and Conference Hall.  

The meeting was opened on Friday 7 October by H.E. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Chairman Arctic Circle with keynote presentations for example by Admiral Robert Papp, Special Representative of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for the Arctic, Timo Soini, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Finland, the Honourable Philippe Couillard, Premier of Québec, Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iceland, Gao Feng, Special Representative for Climate Change Negotiations of the Foreign Ministry of China.  

The nations and their approach to the Arctic highlighted this year are Scotland and Switzerland. “Scotland and the Arctic” was presented by Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland stressing the high-level science in Scotland and discussing the interesting situation due to Brexit.  

Representatives from IIASA and the Arctic Futures Initiative (AFI) includes Elena RovenskayaAdvanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program Director; taking part in GreenMar project; Paul Berkman, Director of AFI; Ambassador Hannu Halinen, Special Advisor to the IIASA Director General and Chief Executive Officer; Anni Reissell, Director of AFI International Project Office. Other AFI Core Group members present are Lassi Heininen, University of Lapland; President and CEO Tero Vauraste, Arctia Shipping Ltd.; Alexander Shestakov, Director of WWF Arctic Programme; Volker Rachold, Executive Secretary of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC).  

AFI Core Group members were conveners and presenters in several panel and breakout group sessions, see program at http://www.arcticcircle.org/. In addition, several AFI-related side meetings were organized for planning of collaboration.

Arctic Circle Assembly Structure


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Last edited: 26 June 2019

Arctic Futures Initiative

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