Barents Region and the surrounding seas

Description

The Barent’s Euro-Arctic Council was established in 1993 to promote inter-governmental cooperation in the northern most parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and north-west Russia. The cooperating region includes, in the Scandinavian countries, the counties of Nordland, Tromso and Finnmark in Norway, Norrbotten and Västerbotten in Sweden, and Lapland and the province of Oulu in Finland. In Russia, it includes the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk Oblasts, the Republic of Karelia, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and the Republic of Komi. Historically in the Soviet era, contacts between the Western European and Russian parts of the region were restricted. Cooperation since the beginning of the 1990’s has increased rapidly. (Please note that the The Barents Euro-Arctic Council has expanded the membership since 1998)