The U.S. Coast Guard is hosting an eight-nation Arctic Coast Guard Forum Principals Meeting March 22-24 at the U.S. Coast Guard Base Boston in Boston.
The Arctic Coast Guard Forum is described as an operationally-focused, consensus based organization with the purpose of leveraging collective resources to progressively foster safe, secure and environmentally-responsible maritime activity in the Arctic.
The heads of the coast guards of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Russian Federation and the United States are meeting to advance the goals of the forum through a signing of a Joint Statement.
Participating are Adm. Paul Zukunft, United States; Deputy Commissioner Mario Pelletier, Canada; Lt. Gen. Jaakko Kaukanen, Finland; Maj. Gen. Kim Jesper Joergensen, Denmark; Rear Adm. Georg Kr. Larusson, Iceland; Commodore Sverre Engeness, Norway; Rear Adm. Dan Thorell, Sweden; and Vice Adm. Gennady Medvedev, Russian Federation.
The heads of the eight Arctic nations’ coast guards will sign a joint statement to adopt doctrine, tactics, procedures and information sharing protocols for emergency maritime response and combined operations in the Arctic. A formal ceremony on Friday, March 24, will also mark the orderly transition of Forum Chairmanship from the U.S. Coast Guard to the Finnish Border Guard.
