Tromsø is becoming an Arctic “hot spot” for defense and security

After thousands of scientists, government officials and business leaders battled gale force winds to attend a week of conversations and presentations at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Anu Fredrikson sat down to answer some questions with her reflections. The executive director of Arctic Frontiers, an annual event since 2007, explains why defense and security are making Tromsø a hot spot in the Arctic. 

Q: Security took a bigger role than ever before at the Arctic Frontiers event this year. Why? How?

For us this is a part of natural development. The biggest drivers for the development of the Arctic are geopolitics and climate change. The geopolitical landscape of the Arctic has changed drastically since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and hence it is only natural that the discussions at Arctic Frontiers reflect this change. Soon seven out of eight Arctic states will be members of NATO. This will have implications on the way we collaborate, exercise, and work together. Being a region characterized by long distances and remoteness, the concept of comprehensive defense stands strong, especially in the Nordic part of the Arctic. Comprehensive security means vital societal functions are handled together by authorities, businesses, NGOs and citizens, and this perspective was a central part of our program this year.

Q: How do you see the topic of security developing in future years based on what you saw this year?

Arctic Frontiers takes pride in our curated program, and each year’s themes are the result of several iterations based on the expert input provided by our partner network. While the work to identify themes for 2025 has started, I am fairly confident security will have a prominent role in the coming years. The angles will vary, but the core will remain the same: we aim at discussing issues from a political/military, scientific and local perspectives.

Q: My taxi driver on the way into Tromsø couldn’t stop talking about the visible signs of increased presence of defense (more NATO warships in the waters, for example) and diplomacy (new U.S. consulate, for example) in Tromsø. What does this mean for Tromsø and the Arctic and its people? 

The opening of the American presence post in Tromsø is a sign of changing geopolitics and increased importance of the Arctic, including the wish to enhance ties on all levels, not just within the defense sphere. With its location as gateway to the Arctic, Tromsø is in many ways a hotspot for much of the increased defense activity. It is correct that this is visible on the streets and in our everyday lives, and hence the awareness regarding changing geopolitical landscape is probably higher for a layperson in Tromsø than in some other parts of Norway or the Nordics. The increased diplomatic attention is also a natural consequence of the work to establish Tromsø as the Arctic capital. We are now starting to see the results of long-term work with the relocation and establishment of institutions such as the Norwegian Polar Institute, Arctic Council Secretariat, Arctic Economic Council, Arctic Mayors’ Forum, and, naturally, Arctic Frontiers.

Q: Beyond security, what were your takeaways? How have the topics of climate change, commerce and cooperations changed or advanced this year?

In addition to the rise of comprehensive security as a topic, another key takeaway for me was the strong Nordic presence. We are starting to see strengthened Nordic collaboration on all levels, also in Arctic. Traditionally the regional cooperation and soft diplomacy topics have stood strong in the Nordic collaboration. The Arctic Five is a great example of collaboration between five northern universities from Finland, Sweden and Norway. But I could also sense that there is growing interest in cross-border trade and business across the Nordics, and especially between Finland, Sweden and Norway. I experienced a shift to new gear not just in terms of interest, but also concrete plans. To me this makes perfect sense, as we have much of complimentary knowledge and capacity.

Q: What was your biggest unexpected lesson from this year, professional or personal?

I have been drilled to contingency planning throughout my professional career, and having led Arctic Frontiers through the pandemic and start of war in Ukraine our team has gotten a good amount of practical experience in planning and preparedness. During the week of 2024 Arctic Frontiers Norway was hit by three severe winter storms, which naturally also impacted our program. We were well served by our contingency plan, and truly experienced that we got value for money for our investments in fully digital and hybrid productions which we started back in 2021. Thanks to good preparedness, excellent team, good collaboration and year-around dialogue with different authorities and security providers as well as professional production, only one side event and one open event had to be cancelled because of lack of speakers. This is quite a feat considering that the airport in Tromsø was closed for nearly 24 hours – for the first time in 14 years!

I also want to highlight the diversity of discussions as eye opening not just for myself, but for many of our participants. I had a chance to attend an event focusing on women, peace and security organized by the Ted Stevens Center during the 2024 Arctic Frontiers , highlighting the indigenous women’s perspective on security. This was a powerful discussion from an angle that is underrepresented in our traditional (hard) security discussions. Having seen the impact of that discussion on hard core security professionals in the room only made it more powerful.