Over 2000 participants from more than 60 countries attended the 2017 Arctic Circle Assembly. Offering more than 130 Sessions, receptions, exhibitions and networking opportunities.

United States Senator from Alaska at the Arctic Circle Assembly 2017

Cooperation doesn’t make news, controversy makes news. I would like to keep the Arctic away from controversy

Laurene Powell Jobs is the founder and President of the Emerson Collective, an organization focused on harnessing the power of individuals from underserved communities to help them build a better life. The Collective supports social entrepreneurs and organizations working in the  areaas of education, social justice and conservation. 

Powell Jobs attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences and earned her B.A. degree in Political Science followed by a B.S. degree in Economics from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the year 1985. Later on, she completed her M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1991. Laurene Powell Jobs is the widow of Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc.

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson is the sixth President of Iceland as of 2016. Before taking office as President, Guðni was Professor of history at the University of Iceland. He has taught at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik University, Bifröst University and the University of London. For a few years he also worked part-time for the Icelandic State Broadcasting Company as a reporter. Guðni has written numerous books on modern Icelandic history, including works about the Cod Wars, the Icelandic presidency, the late Prime Minister Gunnar Thoroddsen, a book about spying in Iceland, a book about former President Kristján Eldjárn, and a book about the 2008 banking collapse. He has also written dozens of scholarly articles and newspaper articles. He has received a variety of recognitions for his works.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Canada

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett served as the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Canada in 2015 until 2021 and as Minister of State for Public Health in 2003 until 2006. She was first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 and was re-elected in 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2021 representing Toronto—St. Paul’s. Prior to her election in 1997, Minister Bennett was a family physician and a founding partner of Bedford Medical Associates in downtown Toronto. She was also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Her fight to save the Women’s College Hospital of Toronto inspired her to enter politics.

Minister of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates

H.E. Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi served as the Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates in 2016-2020. 

Prior to assuming his ministerial position, H.E Al Zeyoudi served as the permanent representative of the UAE to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Director of the Department of Energy Affairs and Climate Change at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

H. E. began his career as a petroleum engineer at the Abu Dhabi Marine Area Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) before moving to the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), where he worked on the development of renewable energy technologies and solutions. He has played a major role in the UAE’s successful diplomatic campaign in 2009 to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in the capital, Abu Dhabi.

H. E. Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi holds a Bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Tulsa; a Master's degree in Business Administration from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT); a Master's degree in Project Management from the British University in Dubai; and a PhD in Strategy, Program and Project Management from SKEMA Business School in France.

Nicola Sturgeon is Scotland's first female First Minister and the first woman to lead any of the devolved UK administrations.

Born in Irvine in 1970 and educated at Greenwood Academy, she studied law at the University of Glasgow where she graduated with LLB (Hons) and Diploma in legal practice.

Before entering the Scottish Parliament as a regional MSP for Glasgow in 1999 she worked as a solicitor in the Drumchapel Law and Money Advice Centre in Glasgow.

She is currently MSP for Glasgow Southside having been, before boundary changes, MSP for Govan between 2007 and 2011.

In government she served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing between May 2007 and September 2012 and then Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities with responsibility for government strategy and the constitution until November 2014. Throughout this period she also served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland.

She became leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on November 14, 2014 and was sworn in as First Minister on November 20, 2014. She lives in Glasgow with her husband Peter Murrell.

The Hon Henry Puna served as the Prime Minister of Cook Islands from 2010 until 2020 and was also the Minister responsible for; Crown Law, Energy, Renewable Energy, Justice, Environment, Head of State, Office of the Prime Minister, Ombudsman, Parliamentary Services, Police, Public Service Commission, Emergency Cook Islands, and Member of Parliament for Manihiki.

Mr Puna Holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) from University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia. He later completed the prescribed 6 months Professional Law Course for Admission to the Bar at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and was admitted to the Bar in Canberra and Sydney, Australia.

 Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

As of 2016, Patricia Espinosa is the Executive Secretary of UNFCCC. Ambassador of Mexico to Germany since 2012 and from 2001 to 2002, Ms. Espinosa was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, bringing more than 30 years of experience at highest levels in international relations, specialized in climate change, global governance, sustainable development, gender equality and protection of human rights.

As Mexico's representative on multilateral bodies and international organizations in Vienna, Geneva and New York, Ms. Espinosa has been engaged as leader in the global challenge to address climate change and its consequences, notably as President of the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC leading to the adoption of the Cancun Agreements. Named by the UN Secretary-General to the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, she is a tireless supporter of multilateralism as a way to improve conditions for development in all regions of the world, understanding the inextricable link between the aims of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Elected Chair of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (1996) she played a key role in the process leading to the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action at the 4th World Conference on Women. Previous Ambassador of Mexico to Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and UN Organisations in Vienna (2002-2006), she was Chief of Staff to the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1989-1991) and responsible for economic issues at the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN in Geneva (1982-1988).

Born in 1958, she has postgraduate studies in International Law from the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva and is holder of a Degree in International Relations from El Colegio de Mexico. Fluent in English and German, she is confident in French with Spanish mother tongue.

Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Resources Development, Kiribati

The Honourable Tetabo Nakara was the Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Resources Development, Kiribati, from 2016 until 2020.

Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic Poles; Former Minister of the Environment, Republic of France

Ségolène Royal was the Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic Poles from 2017 until 2021. Prior to that she served as Minister for Ecology from 2014 to 2017. Royal was nominated as President of the 21st session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by French President François Hollande in February 2016 and held that post until CoP 22 in November 2016 in Marrakech. She was Minister Delegate for Family Affairs, Childhood and Disability (March 2000 – May 2002), Minister Delegate for School Education (June 1997 – March 2000), and Minister for the Environment (April 1992 – March 1993). She was President of the Poitou-Charentes Region from April 2004 to May 2014 and was a member of the French Parliament for the Deux-Sèvres department numerous times between 1988 and 2007. She was the runner-up for the 2007 presidential election, the first woman in France to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major party.

President of Iceland 1996-2016, Chairman of Arctic Circle

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson served as President of Iceland for twenty years, 1996-2016; elected five times in nationwide elections. Previously, he was Minister of Finance, Member of Parliament, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the first Professor of Political Science at the University of Iceland. He now serves as Chairman of Arctic Circle, which he founded in 2013 with various Arctic partners. The Arctic Circle Assembly held in Iceland every October has become the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 60 countries. Arctic Circle also organizes specialized Forums in other countries; so far, in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Before and after his presidency, President Grímsson has worked closely with members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate as well as with many key members of governments in European countries. For decades, he has been an active participant in the global climate dialogue and during his Presidency and in recent years initiated and promoted clean energy projects in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the United States and the Americas; especially using Icelandic achievements and technologies as a model. He was the Chairman of a commission established by IRENA on the new geopolitics emerging from global renewable energy transformation. Grímsson served on the Advisory Board of Sustainable Energy for All, created by the United Nations and the World Bank. In addition to devoting his post-presidential efforts to the three areas of climate, the Arctic and clean energy, Grímsson is also involved in international cooperation on the oceans and the evolution of sustainable use of marine resources.

President Grímsson has received many international awards, including the Nehru Award for International Understanding, presented to him by the President of India.

Member of the Icelandic parliament Althingi for Southwest Iceland since 2003, Bjarni Benediktsson has been leader of the Independence party since 2009. He was minister of finance and economic affairs from April 2013 to January 2017 when he became prime minister. He then became minister of finance and economic affairs from November 2017.

Born in Reykjavík on 26 January 1970, Mr Benediktsson graduated from Reykjavik Junior College in 1989 and completed his law degree from the University of Iceland in 1995. He followed this up with a year of study in Germany in 1995-96, and then graduated with an LLM degree from the University of Miami School of Law in the US in 1997. After taking his bar exam in 1998 he practiced as District Court attorney and is a certified securities trader.

His All Holiness, Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch 

Born Demetrios Arhondonis in 1940 on the island of Imvros (today, Gökçeada, Turkey), His All-Holiness Bartholomew was elected in October 1991 as the 270th Archbishop of the 2000-year-old Church founded by the Apostle Andrew. His formal office is Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, a historic title dating to the sixth century.

The Ecumenical Patriarch received his elementary and secondary education in Imvros and Istanbul. After completing undergraduate studies at the historic Theological School of Halki, he pursued graduate studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute of the Gregorian University in Rome (Italy), the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey (Switzerland), and the University of Munich (Germany). His doctoral dissertation, submitted to the University of Athens (Greece) was in the field of Canon Law, and he was a founding member of the Society of Canon Law of the Oriental Churches.

Ordained to the Diaconate in 1961 and to the Priesthood in 1969, he served as Assistant Dean at the Theological School of Halki (1968–72) before his appointment as Personal Secretary to the late Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios (1972–90) as well as election as Metropolitan of Philadelphia (1973) and, subsequently, Metropolitan of Chalcedon (1990).

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew holds numerous honorary doctorates, from prestigious academic institutions throughout the world, including the universities of Athens and Thessaloniki, Patras and Ioannina (in Greece), Georgetown and Yale (in the USA), Flinders and Manila (in Australasia), London and Edinburgh (in the United Kingdom), Louvain and Moscow, as well as Bologna and Bucharest (in Europe). He speaks contemporary Greek, Turkish, Italian, German, French and English; he is also fluent in classical Greek and Latin.

Attendees of the 2017 Assembly were invited for a night of Japanese culture hosted by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The reception included a Shamisen performance by Hibiki Ichikawa and Akari Mochizuki performed Enka songs.

The Finnish multipurpose icebreaker MSV Nordica was moored at Miðbakki berth, just a stone's throw from Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center. Organizations that were planning meetings during the Assembly could hire space on board MSV Nordica for their meetings. The vessel was open to the general public through a tour on board for selected times during the Assembly days.

Senator Murkowski - President Trump & the Arctic

Lisa Murkowski on President Trump and the Arctic

Laurene Powell Jobs - American Action on Climate Change

Laurene Powell Jobs on American Action on Climate Change

Climate Catastrophies - Religious Perspectives

Climate Catastrophes: Religious Perspectives - His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I

John Holdren - Increasing Storms & Melting Glaciers

Increasing Storms and Melting Glaciers - John Holdren at the Arctic Circle Assembly

H.E. Henry Puna, PM of the Cook Islands - Fisheries Sustainability in the Pacific

H E  Henry Puna, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands  Fisheries Sustainability in Pacific

Dalee Sambo Dorough - Indigenous Arctic Global Dialogue

Dalee Sambo Dorough, Indigenous Arctic Global Dialogue, Climate Change and Indigenous Knowledge

His All Holiness, Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch at the 2017 Assembly

The fragile beauty of the Arctic is not only an inspiration, but also a warning to anyone who cares about the future of our Planet.

Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center, Reykjavík, Iceland

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2017 Arctic Circle Assembly

Program

Speakers Included

Japan Night

Participants

Countries

Speakers

Sessions

Finnish Icebreaker MSV Nordica

Highlighted Videos

Senator Murkowski - President Trump & the Arctic

Laurene Powell Jobs - American Action on Climate Change

Climate Catastrophies - Religious Perspectives

John Holdren - Increasing Storms & Melting Glaciers

H.E. Henry Puna, PM of the Cook Islands - Fisheries Sustainability in the Pacific

Dalee Sambo Dorough - Indigenous Arctic Global Dialogue

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