On September 28, 2022 the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) in cooperation with the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk and Northern Forum international organization held a roundtable titled “Russia – India Collaboration in the Arctic: Interests and Opportunities”. The roundtable was supposed to be held in the framework of the IV Northern Sustainable Development Forum.

Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, delivered welcoming remarks, stressing the need to avoid great power confrontation in the Arctic and find the ways to develop the region. Nikolay Korchunov, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, Ambassador-at-large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, opened the discussion with the comprehensive analysis of the Russian position in the Arctic.

The agenda of the roundtable covered such areas as Russia’s and India’s interests and strategic approaches in the Arctic, prospective joint projects in energy and transport, as well as sustainable development of the region and collaboration in science. The list of participants included both polar researchers and international relations and world economy experts, which allowed discussing these matters from various positions.

Vijay Sakhuja, Director, School of Integrated Coastal and Maritime Security Studies, Rashtriya Raksha University, Alexander Makarov, Director, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Lydia Kulik, Head of India Studies, SKOLKOVO Institute for Emerging Markets, Research Fellow, Center for Indian Studies, RAS Institute of Oriental Studies, Amit Bhandari, Senior Fellow for Energy, Investment and Connectivity, Gateway House, Thamban Meloth, Director In-Charge, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, K.P. Krishnan, Head of Arctic Operations, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Kumar Rajan, Associate Professor, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Elsa Shirgazina and Gleb Makarevich, both Junior Research Fellows, Group on South Asia and Indian Ocean, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, RAS, spoke at the roundtable.

Daryana Maximova, Deputy Executive Director, Northern Forum Secretariat, and Acting Head, Department of International Studies of the North-Eastern Federal University, also took part in the event and described the Russian-Asian Consortium for Arctic Research that is being established.

Ksenia Kuzmina, RIAC Deputy Director of Programs, moderated the discussion.