The Roscongress Foundation is a socially oriented non-financial development institution and a major organizer of nationwide and international conventions; exhibitions; and business, public, youth, sporting, and cultural events. It was established in pursuance of a decision by the President of the Russian Federation.
The Foundation was established in 2007 with the aim of facilitating the development of Russia’s economic potential, promoting its national interests, and strengthening the country’s image. One of the roles of the Foundation is to comprehensively evaluate, analyse, and cover issues on the Russian and global economic agendas. It also offers administrative services, provides promotional support for business projects and attracting investment, helps foster social entrepreneurship and charitable initiatives.
Each year, the Foundation’s events draw participants from 209 countries and territories, with more than 15,000 media representatives working on-site at Roscongress’ various venues. The Foundation benefits from analytical and professional expertise provided by 5,000 people working in Russia and abroad.
The Foundation works alongside various UN departments and other international organizations, and is building multi-format cooperation with 212 economic partners, including industrialists’ and entrepreneurs’ unions, financial, trade, and business associations from 86 countries worldwide, and 293 Russian public organizations, federal and regional executive and legislative bodies of the Russian Federation.
The Roscongress Foundation has Telegram channels in Russian t.me/Roscongress, English – t.me/RoscongressDirect, Spanish – t.me/RoscongressEsp and Arabic t.me/RosCongressArabic. Official website and Information and Analytical System of the Roscongress Foundation:roscongress.org.
«The Arctic in Figures» is a collection of the newest data on the development of the global Arctic, with detailed information about the Russian territory of the region. The analysis covers the role of the Russian Arctic in Russia’s economy, transportation in the region, demographics, urban development, and tourism. The publication is a joint research project of the HSE University, the Government of Murmansk Region, the Working Group on Transport, Logistics, and Socio-Economic Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation under the State Council, and the Institute of Regional Consulting.
The Roscongress Foundation presents the salient points of the publication accompanied by fragments of broadcasts of relevant panel discussions from the business programme of international events held by the Roscongress Foundation.
Demographic and urban development of the Arctic is an anchor for securing the sovereignty of the Arctic states and a basis for territory exploration, including development and exploitation of mineral deposits.
The Arctic Zone covers 9% of the Earth’s terrestrial area and 32% of the total territory of the eight Arctic states (Russia, Canada, the USA, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Kingdom of Denmark, and Iceland). The Arctic’s population is 5.5 million people (0.07% of global population). Of these, 10% are indigenous peoples. Notably, 2.4 million people (44% of the global Arctic’s population) live on the Russian territories of the Arctic. Indigenous peoples make up 9% of the population of Russia’s Arctic regions. Working-age people comprise, on average, a half of the Arctic population of the Arctic states (roughly 59%). The total number of working-age people in the global Arctic is 3.3 million, with the Russian Arctic having the largest numbers in absolute (1.5 million people) and relative (64%) terms. Northern European countries have the lowest share of working-age Arctic population, notably Finland (54%) and Sweden (55%). The publication points out that Arctic cities are of crucial importance as poles of economic, transportation, scientific, and cultural development of the region, anchors for securing the sovereignty of the Arctic territories, and fundamental points for territory exploration and rotation-based forms of development and exploitation of mineral deposits. At the moment, 40% of the global Arctic’s population live in the 20 largest cities, with the Russian Arctic having 16 strategically important population clusters (agglomerations).
The Arctic territories play a major role in the economic development of the Arctic states.
The global Arctic’s GDP is 360 billion dollars, accounting for 1.2% of total GDP of the Arctic states. The share of the Arctic territories in national GDPs is 10% for Finland and Russia, 6% for Norway, 5% for Sweden, 2% for the Kingdom of Denmark, and under 1% for the USA and Canada. This indicator is not calculated for Iceland because 100% of the country’s area is in the global Arctic. The Arctic territories are of crucial importance in the context of mineral extraction, including oil and gas, with 15% of global output of natural gas and 2% of global oil output accounted for by the Arctic. In oil production, 15% of Norwegian oil, 10% of Russian oil and 4% of American oil come from the Arctic. The corresponding figures for natural gas production stand at 83% for Russia and 35% for Norway. Notably, the Arctic also has considerable deposits of gold, with 23% of Russia’s gold provided by the region. Other sectors of importance are the fishing industry and the tourism sector. For example, 60% of total fish catch in the USA comes from Alaska, while the annual fishing industry exports amount to 5.5 billion dollars for Iceland, 1.8 billion for Faroe Islands, and 770 million for Greenland. The global tourist flow to the Arctic is estimated at roughly 10 to 11 million people. The largest share of the tourist flow is accounted for by the cruise travel segment, where Alaska and Iceland are the leaders.
The Russian Arctic and its resources are a major driver of the country’s social and economic development.
The publication says that raw hydrocarbons are a driver for the development of the mineral resources base of the Russian Arctic. More than 300 hydrocarbon reservoirs are on the State Register of Mineral Reserves of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation. The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a major national and global center of natural gas extraction, accounts for 80% of Russia’s natural gas output. The Arctic territory also produces 10% of Russia’s oil. Other mineral resources found in the Arctic include platinum-group metals (95% of total reserves), nickel (75%), rare-earth metals (over 60%), and apatite ores (over 65%). Also, the Russian Arctic houses the largest port of the Arctic Basin, the Murmansk Port, which processes over 55% of the total volume of cargo transshipment. The Murmansk Oblast is also the most popular tourist destination of the Russian Arctic, with roughly 670 thousand visitors per year. In 2023, the Arctic Zone of Russia received a total of 1.1 million tourists, with the tourist flow growing by 40% compared to 2022. For this reason, the region’s residents are actively investing in the Arctic tourism. In 2024, the volume of committed investments of the Arctic Zone residents to the sector was 1.8 billion roubles, while the number of tourism projects in the Arctic reached 130. According to the publication, 25% of the Arctic Zone residents invest in the region’s tourism, with the indigenous peoples earning 40 roubles per each invested rouble. Additionally, the region is rapidly developing in the areas of education and employment. The Arctic Zone houses 14 higher education institutions, with 61% of graduates remaining to work in the Arctic.
Gain more insights about the development of the Arctic territories in the Think Arctic and The Arctic sections of the Roscongress Information and Analytical System, and about socio-economic development, infrastructure, and extracting industries in the Urbanization, Economic progress, Oil and Gas, and Exploration and mining sections.
The Roscongress Foundation is a socially oriented non-financial development institution and a major organizer of nationwide and international conventions; exhibitions; and business, public, youth, sporting, and cultural events. It was established in pursuance of a decision by the President of the Russian Federation.
The Foundation was established in 2007 with the aim of facilitating the development of Russia’s economic potential, promoting its national interests, and strengthening the country’s image. One of the roles of the Foundation is to comprehensively evaluate, analyse, and cover issues on the Russian and global economic agendas. It also offers administrative services, provides promotional support for business projects and attracting investment, helps foster social entrepreneurship and charitable initiatives.
Each year, the Foundation’s events draw participants from 209 countries and territories, with more than 15,000 media representatives working on-site at Roscongress’ various venues. The Foundation benefits from analytical and professional expertise provided by 5,000 people working in Russia and abroad.
The Foundation works alongside various UN departments and other international organizations, and is building multi-format cooperation with 212 economic partners, including industrialists’ and entrepreneurs’ unions, financial, trade, and business associations from 86 countries worldwide, and 293 Russian public organizations, federal and regional executive and legislative bodies of the Russian Federation.
The Roscongress Foundation has Telegram channels in Russian t.me/Roscongress, English – t.me/RoscongressDirect, Spanish – t.me/RoscongressEsp and Arabic t.me/RosCongressArabic. Official website and Information and Analytical System of the Roscongress Foundation:roscongress.org.