World Ocean Council Expresses Interest in Cooperating With Russian Companies in Arctic

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Andrei Savenkov - The World Ocean Council (WOC), a global business association promoting corporate ocean responsibility, in an interview with Sputnik voiced interest in developing collaboration with Russian businesses in the Arctic amid increasing exploration and production of hydrocarbons there.

"The World Ocean Council, as the global ocean business and sustainable business and investment organization that works across all the sectors of ocean industries, will be happy and interested to engage with companies in Russia to work on these issues and to bring them into this alliance of companies from around the world and across the sectors that are working together on corporate ocean responsibility and the blue economy," WOC President Paul Holthus said.

WOC has spoken at several ocean-related panels at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) and, according to Holthus, is currently engaged in talks with the SPIEF managers on holding events on sustainable development of the Arctic and oceans.

The WOC chief also said his organization was interested in engaging with the Russian business community toward forming a business leadership group on ocean sustainable development in Russia, as it has done in several other countries.