Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC)

Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) – a regional cooperation forum established in 1993 at the meeting of foreign ministers of Russia and the Northern Europe countries at Kirkenes (Norway). Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Finland, and Sweden as well as the European Commission entered BEAC as permanent members. Nine countries (UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, Poland, France, USA, and Japan) have the observer status. The principal objectives of BEAC are to promote sustained regional development, bilateral and multilateral economic, commercial, R&D, environmental, infrastructural cooperation, educational and cultural exchange, tourism, as well as implementation of projects aimed at improvement of the living conditions of the northern indigenous peoples. The particular feature of BEAC is that its activity and its projects deal almost exclusively with Russia’s part of the region. BEAC hold yearly conventions of the foreign ministers. Any decisions on BEAC activities are made by...