COPENHAGHEN, 6 September 2012 – Support for the Arctic Council's leading role in addressing pressing Arctic issues was the focus of a speech by OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Riccardo Migliori (Italy) yesterday.

Speaking at the Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region in Akureyri, Iceland, Migliori reiterated the OSCE PA's support for the Arctic Council and the importance of involving indigenous peoples in policy discussions.

He pointed out that an OSCE PA resolution adopted at the 2010 Annual Session in Oslo declared that the Law of the Seas is the basis for Arctic Ocean governance. "I urge those whose countries have not yet to ratified this treaty to do so this year," the president said. "So long as the sea is our common responsibility, we need common laws to guide our co-operation."

The Conference, a biennial meeting of parliamentarians representing the eight Arctic countries and the European Parliament, was chaired by Norwegian MP Morten Hoglund, who also serves as deputy head of Norway's delegation to the OSCE PA. "In order to ensure the Arctic states a central position at the decision-making table for the future developments in the Arctic," Hoglund said, the "Arctic Council must become a treaty-based organization." He described reports this summer that the ice-melting in the Arctic is reaching new record levels as "very worrying."

In a bilateral meeting on the margins of the Conference, Migliori and Hoglund discussed ways to improve co-operation between the OSCE PA and the Arctic Council.

Elected at the OSCE PA's Annual Session in Monaco on 9 July, Migliori has made Arctic security one of his priorities for his term as president.

During his visit to Iceland, Migliori met with the president of the Icelandic Parliament (the Althing), Asta Ragnheidur Johannesdottir.