– In order to ensure the Arctic states a central position at the decision-making table for the future developments in the Arctic, Arctic Council must become a treaty based organization. We have to put pressure on the ministers to start the negotiations at the next Ministerial meeting in May 2013, Mr. Morten Høglund, Chair of the Standing Committee, says.
Arctic Council is the most important instrument for political cooperation in the Arctic.

– Reports this summer that the ice-melting is reaching new record levels are very worrying. The governments in the Arctic must act now, Mr. Høglund says.

At the conference in Akureyri the parliamentarians are expected to adopt a conference statement aimed at the governments in the Arctic, the Arctic Council and the EU.

The Conference of the Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region gathers parliamentarians from the eight Arctic states (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA) and the European Parliament as well as representatives of indigenous peoples and the research community.