The international community has forged a legitimate system of relations in the Arctic, so there is little chance that the oil-rich region may become a source of conflict and rivalry in the future, a Russian diplomat said.
The vast hydrocarbon deposits that will become more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice have brought the Arctic to the center of geopolitical wrangling between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.
"We are convinced that the situation in the Arctic remains calm and under control," Russia's ambassador to London Yury Fedotov said at a discussion in London
The conference, headlined 'Environment and Geopolitics: The Future of the Arctic' was held on Monday in U.K.'s Chatham House, one of the world's leading NGOs with a mission to analyze international affairs and geopolitics.
The Russian ambassador said the states should not inflame possible disputes about the region, which is believed to contain some 25% of the global oil and gas reserves.
All the disputes may be solved through negotiations and cooperation, based on the existing relations between the five littoral states.
Jim Wright, High Commissioner for Canada, said his country considered the Arctic a territory of cooperation rather than competition.
He added that all the five Arctic states respected the sovereignty of the territories and their current legal status.
LONDON, July 6 (RIA Novosti)
