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Arctic Yearbook 2013
Joenniemi & Sergunin
Figure 2 - A Sør-Varanger community ad in the Pechenga district‟s newspaper:
Welcome to Kirkenes – your nearest shopping center!
Co-operation with international organizations
: In the hope of getting international assistance and
recognition, many northern European municipalities try to develop relations with regional and sub-
regional organizations, such as the Barents/Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC), Arctic Council, Council of
Europe, European Congress of Municipal and Regional Governments, European Regions
Assembly, etc. For example, the BEAC has both its headquarters and Norwegian national offices in
Kirkenes and its office in Murmansk. These offices help to coordinate cooperative projects at the
regional/municipal level, including the Kirkenes-Nikel twinning project. The Sør-Varanger
community, being a part of the Finnmark county, cooperates with the Norwegian Association of
Local and Regional Authorities which, in turn, is a member of the Council of European
Municipalities and Regions (Council of European Municipalities and Regions, 2013: 11). As
mentioned above, both municipalities have contacts with the CTA and even think about joining it in
due time. It should be noted that co-operation with international organizations is important for the
twinning municipalities not only in terms of survival or getting additional resources for their
developmental programs but also in terms of opening them up for the world-wide processes of
globalization and regionalization.
The use of the ‗treaty-making power‘
: As far as the Russian side is concerned, over the past two decades,
this strategy was at the center of the heated debate on the treaty-making powers of the federal
center, regions (members of the Russian Federation) and municipalities. Despite Moscow‘s
resistance since the early 1990s, many Russian border municipalities have concluded direct
agreements with same-type international partners. As a compromise between the central and local
actors, it was decided that such agreements should not have a status of full-fledged international
treaties (which is considered as a federal prerogative) and should be prepared with the Russian