Arctic Council’s chief non-elected official stops by Iqaluit

Patrick Borbey, who serves as Canada’s chair of the Arctic Council’s senior Arctic officials and president of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, was back at his Iqaluit office between July 29 and August 2. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

Patrick Borbey, Canada’s chair of the Arctic Council’s senior Arctic officials, stopped in Iqaluit between July 29 to August 1 — on the latest of his trips to the eight circumpolar states since the Arctic Council since Canada took over the chairmanship of the body this past May.

Borbey’s travels have already included trips to Russia, Norway and Finland, where he drummed up support for Canada’s program between 2013 and 2015.

A top priority: the creation of a circumpolar business forum, to be launched early next year.

“Arctic council projects like these normally take two years,” Borbey said, or the duration of the term. “But in this case we wanted to get this off the mark really fast.”

A task force has already started work on terms and conditions for the forum, he said.

That’s headed up by officials from Canada, Russia, Finland and Iceland.

Once this is up and running, the forum will provide advice to the Arctic Council on matters related to business and commerce in circumpolar regions.

The forum will be operate independently of the Arctic Council, Borbey said.

“It’s an ongoing body that looks at sharing best practices, developing standards amongst ourselves,” he said.

This would include exchange of cold-weather technologies geared for Arctic regions, he said.

North-south perspectives prevail in exchanges related to business, he added, and a forum will help overcome barriers between Arctic states and regions.

During his visit to Russia in June, Borbey noted interest in Canadian expertise in road-resurfacing for Arctic conditions, as an example.

“We talked about ways we can collaborate, especially in cold climate innovation and technology,” he said.

Despite signs of conflict over the past year between Russia’s ministry of justice and that country’s representative for Arctic indigenous peoples on the Arctic Council, which is known as RAIPON, Borbey said he has not come up against any political difficulties in his first round of travels for the council.

“I met with the new president of RAIPON when I was in Russia, and we had a really good conversation,” he said.

The association elected Grigory Ledkov to the post in March in an election some allege was manipulated by Moscow.

“He’s [Ledkov] new to the Arctic Council but he’s extremely supportive,” said Borbey. “We’ll continue to be supportive of RAIPON and work closely with them.”

Borbey noted that Russia’s place on the Arctic Council is particularly important, as the country holds more Arctic residents than any other Arctic Council member state — more than two million people who live north of the 60th parallel.

Borbey, who is also president of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, will travel to Denmark and Iceland on business for the Arctic Council this month.