Transborder Café
The Essentials: hva skal vi leve av (i nord)?

Moderator: Anki Gerhardsen

Vert i Murmansk: Maria Matveeva

Aili Keskitalo, President of the Sami Parliament

Keskitalo has a masters degree in Public Administration from Copenhagen Business School. She is a politician from Kautokeino who has been the leader of the Norwegian Sami National Association  from 2003-2005 and 2008-2013. Aili Keskitalo has been the president of the Sami Parliament from 2005-2007, 2013-2016 and 2017-today. 

Geir Hønneland

is a norwegian political scientist from Harstad and the general secretary of the democracy and human rights organisation Den norske Helsingforskomite. He has a russian course from the armed forces, a PhD in Political Science from the University of Oslo as well as a L.L.M degree in Marine Law from UiT Norges Arktiske Universitet. He has been a professor at numerous norwegian universities since 2004. He was the leader of Fridtjof Nansens Institutt (FNI) between 2015-2019. As a scientist Hønneland has worked with a number of questions regarding international marine management, russian politics and norwegian/russian relations. 

Geir Torbjørnsen

is the CEO of the technology company Barel, a niche company with 20 employees in Kirkenes og 45 internationally across Murmansk, Rio de Janeiro and South-Korea. The company specializes in electronics for demanding and dangerous environments. Untraditional working methods and good relations with the norwegian and russian government has led the company to great success over the past years. They produce interior lighting for Airbus passenger airplanes (since 2011) and in 2020 they signed a contract with Aker BP for the development of LED-lighting with prolonged life for explosive areas in the oil- and gas industry. Founder Geir Torbjørnsen is passionate about electronics and lives by the motto: “Not taking a risk, could be the biggest risk you take”

Rune Rafaelsen

is a norwegian politician (Ap) who became the mayor of Sør-Varanger municipality in 2015. Rafaelsen grew up in Sør-Varanger and got his education at the University of Bergen. He worked as a teacher at Neiden School (78-82), was both a teacher and principal in Bjørnevatn (82-91), leader of the rural development project Prosjekt Neiden (91-93), leader of the tourism company Grenseland AS, Kirkenes (93-97), responsible for ‘ballongfestivaken’ Arctic Sky Balloon Fiesta (91-95), project manager at Barentssekretariatet from 1997 and Head of Secretary from 2003-2015. Rafaelsen is engaged in the possibilities that lies in international cooperation with Russia and Asia based of the northern sea route. 

Yevgeny Nikora
graduated from the Ural Polytechnic Institute (Ural State Technical University) with a degree on economy and management in fuel and energy complex. He has worked in the Murmansk region since 1994. Since 2000 member of Poljarnye Zori Municipal Council. Nikora has been The Deputy Governor of the Murmansk Region and he is now Mayor of Murmansk,- a popular head of administration who spends a lot of time attending public events and visiting citizens in Murmansk.

Andrey Fomenko
is the director of Petchenga-districts Senter for social projects, Second School. He is also a member of the Regional Duma in Murmansk.

Vladimir Komyagin 
built the first snow village in Kirovsk in 2008 at the foot of the mountain Vudjavrchorr and it opened for the 13th time this season. It has been acknowledged as the largest snow construction in Russia.  He is also the founder of snow and ice sculpture festival SNEGOLED and CRAZY SAW international sculpting competition.