Welcome to Barents Press International Annual Meeting!

XVII international BPI annual conference is to be held on 5.-9.05.2011 in the city of Levi, Finland. The program includes items on Arctic cooperation, borders in Barents Region, prospectives of mining industry and tourism, observation of economical development and mass media situation in 1990s and nowadays.

Foto: Timo Siploa

About 100 journalists from Norway, Russia, Sweden and Finland are to participate in the annual meeting on the alpine skiing tracks in Northern Finland.

The city of Levi is situated above the Arctic Circle and makes a part of Kittila area. Kittila airport has flight connections with Helsinki and during the ski season one can get here by plane from Finnixh cities of Obo and Tampere. There are also trough planes from Paris, Dusseldorf and Moscow.

Ski tracks are available from October till May, the season lasts here for 200 days in a year.

BPI Conference will take place at Levitunturi spa-hotel.

See the conference program below.

Robert Sandström,

BP International Board Chairman

(translated by Tatiana Polkova)

Program

Thursday May 5

Arrival at Levi | Check in at the hotel

Possibility to use the spa facilities or to go skiing or downhill skiing

Dinner at 20.00 hours

Youth meeting

Friday May 6

Wake up | Possibility to have a morning swim

Breakfast

8.30 – 9.00 Registration

09.00 Opening words, Robert Sandström, chairman, Barents Press International

9.00 – 11.00 Arctic session 1 Moderator: Timo Sipola

9.00 – 10.00

•    EU and Arctic information center, Professor Paula Kankaanpää, Director of Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland.

•    High North and Borders, Dr Aileen A. Espíritu, Director of the Barents Institute, Kirkenes ( Canada).

•    Finland’s arctic strategy, Hannu Halinen, Ambassador for Arctic Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

•    Arctic cooperation from the point of view of the Barents regional council, Per Wallén, Head of the Swedish Barents Secretariat.

•    The point of view of youth on the Arctic regions, Margarita Bogdanova, student, University of Petrozavodsk.

10.00 -11.00 Panel discussion

11.00 – 11.30 Coffee, Hotel Levitunturi

11.30 – 14.00 Geological session 2 (Bus trip to the Suurikuusikko mine)

•    Introduction to the mining boom that is going on in the North

•    Presentation of the mine

•    A tour of the mine

Lunch at the Suurikuusikko mine

14.00 – 17.00 Barents Cafe session 3 Moderator: Alpo Merilä

14.00 – 16.00 Development of the Barents region in the 1990’s and 2000’s

Welcome to Barents Café, Regis Rouge-Oikarinen, Research Manager, ThinkBarents

•    Development of Swedish Barents, Professor Ulf Wiberg,  Head of department, Department  of Social and Economic Geography, Umeå University

•    Development of Norwegian Barents, Frode Mellemvik,. Director, High North Center Bodö  (not confirmed)

•    Development of Russian Barents, Doctor Olga Buch, professor,  director general of Arctic Center of Training Specialists, editor of magazine “Shelfinfo”

•    Development of Finnish Barents, Esko Lotvonen, County Governor of Lapland

The Kainuu self-governance experiment, Doctor Eeva Mäntymäki, communication manager, Joint authority of Kainuu Region

Coffee and fruit

16.00 – 17.00 Panel discussion

17.00 – 20.00 Possibility to use the spa facilities or to go skiing or downhill skiing

21.00 Dinner | Music at Hotel Levitunturi

Saturday May 7

Wake up | Possibility to have a morning swim

Breakfast

09.00 – 12.00 Barents media session 4 Moderator: Outi Torvinen

09.00 – 11.00

•    Development of the media in the Barents region in the 1990’s and 2000’s.

•    Development in Sweden, Karin Sjöberg , universitetsadjunkt, Luleå University of Technology, ledamot, Svenska Publicistklubbens styrelse för Norrbotten.

•    Development in Norway, Gunnar Sætra, journalist, Arne Store, journalist.

•    Development Russia, Elena Larionova, Journalist, Coordinator, Barents Press Office, Murmansk.

•    Development Finland, Doctor Erkki Hujanen Community Producer, Newspaper Kaleva.

•    Development of indigenous people’s media, Kristina Henriksen, Advisor, Barentssekretariatet Kirkenes.

•    Arctic media education, Esa Viippola, media student, Oulu University of Applied Science.

Coffee and fruit

11.00 – 12.00 Panel discussion

12.00 – 14.30 Tourism session 5

The logistic future of the Barents region, Tero Taskila , Chief Commercial Officer, Air Baltic.

Tourism as an employer, Paula Grekelä, Regional Manager for Oulu Region and Lapland, Service Union United PAM.

Tourism in Levi, Ari Aspia, Director, Hotel Levitunturi.

Sightseeing in Levi Tarja Syrjänen, Marketing director, Hotel Levitunturi.

Lunch on terrain

14.30 – 17.30 Media session 6 Moderator: Sari Pelttari-Heikka

14.30 – 15.30

•    Why do we find Barents interesting? Arto Nieminen, Chairman of the Finnish Journalist Union

•    Why do we not find Barents interesting? Kyösti Karvonen, Managing editor, Newspaper Kaleva

•    Future prospects of the regional media in Russia, Pavel Gutiontov, Secretary of the Russian Journalist Union

•    The Webinar project of Barents Press Russia, Anatoly Tsykangov, journalist, head of the Karelian Journalist Union

•    Cross Border Co-operation in the North, Terttu Savolainen, Head, Regional State Administrative Agency of Northern Finland

15.30 -16.00 Coffee and fruit

16.00 – 17.30

•    The tabloid reform in Alma Media, Heikki Lääkkölä, Editor-in-chief, Pohjolan Sanomat.

•    Media in Murmansk and Archangels seen with Finnish eyes, Sari Pöyhönen, The Murmansk Office of the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg.

•    Barents Mediasphere, Markku Heikkilä, Head of Science Communications, Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland.

Reports of the national boards

Youth commentary, Adam Zetterquist, journalist, Sweden.

Headlines for next two years of Barents Press, new chairman Morten Ruud, NRK (Norway)

17.30 – 19.30 Cultural session 7

Bus to Kittilä centre

Film education in Lapland,

Presentation of the film: Steam of Life (81 min).

Possibility to use the spa facilities or to go skiing or downhill skiing

21.00 Dinner at Hotel Levitunturi

Music special

Sunday May 8

Breakfast

Checking out of the rooms

10.00 – 13.00 Forestry session 8

Metsähallitus -  a state enterprise:  Buses to an interesting site. Forestry carrier working on a logging site.  A tourist attraction in the environment. How to match tourism and forestry. Kellokas
Visitor Centre. The controversial role of Metsähallitus (a state-run enterprise whose tasks are divided into business activities and public administration duties) Lunch at Kellokas. Kii Korhonen,
Regional Manager.