The biennial conference was organized in cooperation with the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region and brought together over 100 international participants to address issues of importance to Arctic nations. Participants included members of national parliaments of all eight Arctic Council member states--Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the U.S.--the European Parliament, indigenous people's organizations, parliaments of observer states and other governments and interparliamentary organizations. Observers from relevant international organizations were also invited to attend, and UArctic among them.

As the representative of the host country, Murkowski had adopted three major themes to be addressed by the conference: human health in the Arctic, adaptation to climate change and development of rural energy resources. These themes capture the three predominant challenges that Alaska faces and have strong circumpolar relevance.

The conference adopted the enclosed conference statement which includes strong support to the University of the Arctic.

*Conference Statement