Russian-Danish Maritime Roundtable Discussions Held in St Petersburg, Russia

On Friday 9 September 2011, the Danish Maritime Authority, together with the Danish Shipowners’ Association and the Danish Maritime Fund, hosted joint Russian-Danish maritime roundtable discussions in St Petersburg.

The maritime roundtable discussions were held as a part of the Danish state visit to Russia on 6-9 September 2011. Henrik, His Royal Highness The Prince Consort took part in the roundtable discussions, where he got an opportunity to meet an exclusive circle of representatives from the Danish and Russian shipping industry.

Russia is an important market for Danish shipping, and shipping accounts for a major part of Denmark’s total exports to Russia. The shipping political cooperation with Russia takes place in, among other things, the transport working group under the Danish-Russian Government Council, which Director General of the Danish Maritime Authority Andreas Nordseth chairs together with Director of the Department of State Policy on Maritime and River Transport counterpart Konstantin Palnikov. They both took part in the roundtable discussions together with the Russian Vice-Minister of Transport Victor Olersky as well as Russian and Danish port and shipowner representatives.

“We have had a positive and open dialogue, and we share a sound common understanding of the most important challenges faced by the industry. Though we cooperate on a current basis and have already solved a number of common challenges, it is fruitful to be able to meet in this way and exchange views and experiences”, says Andreas Nordseth.

At the meeting, a number of issues of importance to the Danish-Russian cooperation in the shipping area were discussed, such as administrative burdens, the need for recruitment and training, the economic framework conditions of shipping as well as navigation in the Arctic regions.