The Arctic Circle in cooperation with Alaskan partners and authorities invites decision-makers, experts, business and political leaders and others for a forum on Arctic shipping and port development, August 23–25, 2015, at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, Alaska.

The goal of the forum is to articulate plans and facilitate partnerships for developing safe, secure and reliable shipping through the Arctic, with a focus on the Bering Sea and other Arctic sea routes. At this stage of Arctic development, public- and private-sector cooperation will be essential to good outcomes. Similar partnerships in the past helped create the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Panama and Suez Canals. The meeting will lead to the establishment of an Arctic Circle task force on shipping.

The forum is being hosted by the State of Alaska and partners, including President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson of Iceland; Alice Rogoff, publisher of Alaska Dispatch News; and Mead Treadwell, president of Pt Capital and former Alaska lieutenant governor, in cooperation with Governor Bill Walker and legislative leaders.
Attendees will work toward the following goals:
Plans for safe and reliable global shipping practices that protect the hunting and fishing activities of our Arctic residents and our environment
Public, private and intergovernmental cooperation models to produce the necessary infrastructure investments to reach these goals
The establishment of a task force that will develop further partnerships necessary to offer global shippers a regular, safe, secure and reliable shipping system in the Arctic
This gathering builds on the success of the Arctic Imperative Summits convened in Alaska in 2011 and 2012 and the Arctic Circle Assemblies in Iceland in 2013 and 2014. It will be convened under the umbrella of the Arctic Circle as the first in a series of issues-based forums held around the world.

In the emerging Arctic maritime commerce sector, partnerships will be necessary to finance needed ports of refuge, search and rescue equipment, transshipment facilities and icebreakers. At the same time, the interests of local and indigenous residents must be an integral part of any development planning.

Registration information, meeting details and a draft program will be made available in the coming weeks. In the meantime, interested participants can establish contact and seek further information at:

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http://arcticcircle.org/arctic-circle-forum-alaska