Secretary-General emphasizing green transition for co-operation with Russia

- Living sustainable and boosting green transition are the biggest tasks of our time, says the Secretary-General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, Paula Lehtomäki when she gave a video-recorded speech during the Nordic Weeks 2021. Paula emphasizes prioritizing a green, competitive, and socially sustainable region. These three prioritizations are leading the co-operation between partners in the Nordic countries and North-Western Russia for the next four years. 

The Nordic Council of Ministers' programme for Russia was launched in 2016. The program aims to develop the region by collaborating on achieving green transitions and social sustainability. A diversity of both Nordic and Russian organizations can apply, including universities, non-governmental organizations, and local authorities. In 2021, the Nordic Council of Ministers will give funds for around 240 Million Rubles (20 Million Danish Crowns). Despite the pandemic, the Nordic Council of Ministers received 75 applications this year for Nordic co-operation with North-Western Russia and other countries in the Baltic Sea Area.

Paula expresses that making our lives more sustainable and boosting green transition are the greatest tasks of our time. She highlights the critical message of the recent report by the IPCC and the Paris Agreement, and the UN Agenda 2030 of climate change being a human challenge for all humans. It stretches over all countries and continents. Paula expresses her gratitude over finding areas of co-operation between partners in both the Nordic countries and North-Western Russia on these topics. 

Paula is assuring that the Nordic Council of Ministers is present as a stable partner ready to co-operate on common issues to contribute to a better future for the region. She believes that Vision 2030 lays the foundation for an even more vital co-operation and continued dialogue to find areas to work together, from Murmansk in the North to Pskov and Kaliningrad in the South.

“The Nordic Weeks” is an international noncommercial visibility initiative in North-West Russia since 2010 organized by the Consulates General of Finland, Norway and Sweden, in St. Petersburg and Murmansk, Embassies of Denmark and Iceland in Moscow, Representation of the Faroe Islands in Moscow, the Finnish Institute and Danish Cultural Institute in St. Petersburg. In 2021 the festival is held under the Finnish Presidency of the Nordic intergovernmental co-operation and coordinated in partnership with Danish Cultural Institute with the financial support of the Nordic Council of Ministers.