Arctic Agenda of SPIEF 2023 — Digital, Economic, Environmental, and Socio-Cultural Aspects

The article summarizes the results of the 26th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2023), which took place in St. Petersburg from June 14 to 17, 2022. V. P. Zhuravel, Head of the Centre for Arctic Studies of the Institute of Europe RAS, is a permanent member of the Forum. In 2023, he attended the meetings of all 15 events of the “Arctic: Territory of Dialogue” program. The article deals with issues that were widely discussed at SPIEF-2023, related to the prospects and opportunities for international cooperation, social, economic and investment development of the Arctic regions, Arctic biodiversity, development of specially protected natural areas, northern cities, human resources, scientific and educational potential of the Arctic, branding of the northern regions, digitalization of the northern territories. All these topics are widely covered by the CAS IE RAS scientific group on a regular basis. The author also analyses the development of the tourism, culture, and film industries in the Arctic with a focus on the promotion of Arctic topics in the media. Speakers of the thematic sections emphasized the increasing role of the Arctic in the social and economic development of the Russian Federation, noted the negative consequences of limiting the activities of the Arctic Council. The forum was held under the slogan “Sovereign development is the basis of a just world. Let's join forces for the sake of future generations”.