On April 2, MMBI RAS was visited by a delegation from the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in St. Petersburg. This is not the first visit of Chinese diplomats to MMBI RAS. In 2023, the Consul for Science and Technology from the Consulate General in St. Petersburg visited MMBI twice. Thanks to those visits, MMBI began cooperating with the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC, Shanghai). In 2023, a cooperation agreement was signed with PRIC. In 2024, a joint grant application was prepared. During two conferences, "Security of the Arctic Frontiers: Ecology, History, Images of the Future" in 2023 and 2024, held online, opportunities and prospects for joint research, including on the Svalbard archipelago, were discussed.
This time, the delegation led by Consul General Luo Zhanhui arrived in Murmansk with the aim of strengthening diplomatic and scientific ties for further development of joint Russian-Chinese research in the Arctic. At the beginning of the meeting, MMBI Deputy Director for Science Denis Moiseev and Consul General Luo Zhanhui introduced the participants from Russia and China. Denis Moiseev briefly told the Chinese colleagues about history and main research areas of MMBI. Then, a discussion of ideas and proposals for cooperation unfolded. Issues raised included the joint submission of applications to scientific foundations, holding a joint conference on research of the Svalbard archipelago, and the exchange of data and samples... Consul General Luo Zhanhui expressed a desire to set an example for other BRICS countries regarding the organization of joint events. In conclusion, the parties agreed to develop further cooperation.
