With over 2000 participants, the 2018 Assembly was the largest to date. Offering more than 140 Sessions, receptions, exhibitions and networking opportunities.

Executive Director, United States Arctic Research Commission at the 2018 Assembly

We are all ice dependent species. Every human on this planet depends upon being able to keep a certain amount of ice at our two poles.

Kōno Tarō was the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2019. Minister Kōno has been a Member of the House of Representatives in Japan since 1996. He is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He was Chairman of the Japan Race Horse Association and Chairman of the Shonan Bellmare Football Club, the 1995 Asia Champion Soccer Club. He is married to Kaori and has a son, Ippei.

Born in 1976, Katrín Jakobsdóttir has been the Prime Minister for Iceland since November 2017. She has been serving as Chairman of the Left Green Movement since 2013. She was Minister for Education, Science and culture 2009-2013 and Minister fro Nordic Cooperation in the same time period. She became Member of Parliament (Alþingi) in 2007. She is the Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders since February 2020. 

European Commissioner for Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs

Karmenu Vella was the European Commissioner for Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs from 2014 to 2019. He was born in Malta on June 1950. Mr Vella graduated in Architecture and Civil Engineering, and later obtained a Master of Science in Tourism Management from University of Sheffield. He was first elected to Parliament in 1976 and continued to be was re-elected in the elections that followed for nine consecutive times. During his political career he has been appointed Minister for Public Works, Minister for Industry and Minister for Tourism twice. Mr Vella had also held various senior posts in the private sector

Minister of Education, Culture, Church and Foreign Affairs, Government of Greenland

Ane Lone Bagger served as the Minister of Education, Culture, Church and Foreign Affairs in the Government of Greenland from 2018 until 2020. Before that she was involved in local politics being the first Vice Mayor in Avannaata Municipality for the political party Siumut. She has worked for 15 years in Air Greenland in various roles – including as the first female Greenlandic flight mechanic.  

Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Resources Development, Kiribati

The Honourable Tetabo Nakara was the Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Resources Development, Kiribati, from 2016 until 2020.

Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic Poles; Former Minister of the Environment, Republic of France

Ségolène Royal was the Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic Poles from 2017 until 2021. Prior to that she served as Minister for Ecology from 2014 to 2017. Royal was nominated as President of the 21st session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by French President François Hollande in February 2016 and held that post until CoP 22 in November 2016 in Marrakech. She was Minister Delegate for Family Affairs, Childhood and Disability (March 2000 – May 2002), Minister Delegate for School Education (June 1997 – March 2000), and Minister for the Environment (April 1992 – March 1993). She was President of the Poitou-Charentes Region from April 2004 to May 2014 and was a member of the French Parliament for the Deux-Sèvres department numerous times between 1988 and 2007. She was the runner-up for the 2007 presidential election, the first woman in France to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major party.

Poul Johan Sundberg Michelsen is a Faroese politician and Minister of Trade and Foreign Affairs from 2015 until 2019. He was a Member of Parliament 2002-2020 and 1984-1990. He served as the Mayor of Tórshavn in 1981-1992.

 Senator in the Russian Federation Council, former Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States

Sergey Kislyak is a Russian senior diplomat and politician. Since September 2017, he has represented Mordovia in the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian legislature. Previously he served as the Ambassador of Russia to the United States from 2008 to 2017. From 2003 to 2008, he was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and from 1998 to 2003, he served as the Ambassador of Russia to Belgium and Russia's Head of Mission to NATO.

President of Iceland 1996-2016, Chairman of Arctic Circle

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson served as President of Iceland for twenty years, 1996-2016; elected five times in nationwide elections. Previously, he was Minister of Finance, Member of Parliament, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the first Professor of Political Science at the University of Iceland. He now serves as Chairman of Arctic Circle, which he founded in 2013 with various Arctic partners. The Arctic Circle Assembly held in Iceland every October has become the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 60 countries. Arctic Circle also organizes specialized Forums in other countries; so far, in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Before and after his presidency, President Grímsson has worked closely with members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate as well as with many key members of governments in European countries. For decades, he has been an active participant in the global climate dialogue and during his Presidency and in recent years initiated and promoted clean energy projects in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the United States and the Americas; especially using Icelandic achievements and technologies as a model. He was the Chairman of a commission established by IRENA on the new geopolitics emerging from global renewable energy transformation. Grímsson served on the Advisory Board of Sustainable Energy for All, created by the United Nations and the World Bank. In addition to devoting his post-presidential efforts to the three areas of climate, the Arctic and clean energy, Grímsson is also involved in international cooperation on the oceans and the evolution of sustainable use of marine resources.

President Grímsson has received many international awards, including the Nehru Award for International Understanding, presented to him by the President of India.

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Attendees of the 2018 Assembly were invited for a night of Chinese culture hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. The reception included performances by the Sichuan Art Delegation such as: Chinese ethnic dances, Face Changing of Sichuan Opera, Chinese Kong fu, and Chinese Magic.

Organized by the Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq (Sermersooq Municipality), Greenland, the 2018 Assembly was the first to include the ICEBERG exhibition. The Sermersooq Municipality is the largest municipality in the world. Towns and settlements on the west coast are divided from the east coast by great vastness of ice, from which the municipality draws its name from.

The Varialift Airship - Sir David King at the Arctic Circle Assembly

Ambassador Sergey Kislyak Answers Questions from the Audience

Sergey Kislyak Answers Questions from the Audience at the Arctic Circle Assembly

"Climate Change is a Global Issue" - FM of Japan and PM of Iceland

"Climate Change is a Global Issue" - FM of Japan and PM of Iceland at the Arctic Circle Assembly

Scott Minerd on Elon Musk and the Tech-Sector

Scott Minerd on Elon Musk and the Tech-Sector at the Arctic Circle Assembly

Ségoléne Royal on the Northern Sea Route

Ségoléne Royal on the Northern Sea Route at the Arctic Circle Assembly

Indigenous Dialogues at the Arctic Circle

Indigenous Dialogues at the Arctic Circle Assemblies

Prime Minister of Iceland at the 2018 Assembly

We need to be careful and we need to take it slowly when it comes to the opportunities in the Arctic.

Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center, Reykjavík, Iceland

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2018 Arctic Circle Assembly

Program

Speakers Included

China Night

Participants

Countries

Speakers

Sessions

ICEBERG!

Highlighted Videos

The Varialift Airship - Sir David King

Ambassador Sergey Kislyak Answers Questions from the Audience

"Climate Change is a Global Issue" - FM of Japan and PM of Iceland

Scott Minerd on Elon Musk and the Tech-Sector

Ségoléne Royal on the Northern Sea Route

Indigenous Dialogues at the Arctic Circle

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