Russia plans annual arctic conferences

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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Russia supports international cooperation in the arctic and will host annual conferences on its future, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Saturday.

"We have decided to hold arctic forums annually," Putin told the 14th Congress of the Russian Geographic Society in St. Petersburg, RIA Novosti reported.

The first forum, in Moscow in September, included delegates from 16 countries.

Polar explorer Artur Chilingarov, a Parliament member, proposed holding the next forum in Archangel on the White Sea in the far north of European Russia. He noted it is the birthplace of the great 18th-century scientist Mikhail Lomonosov.

Putin also said he had established a special agency to develop Russia's new arctic national park.