The Stockholm School of Economics official visit to Murmansk

The Stockholm School of Economics official visit to Murmansk

Murmansk has a special place among the cities of Russia. It has a heroic past as it had been almost completely burned down by the Nazis during the Second World War and restored in a record-breaking 5 years after the war. It is a port city and, at the same time, the largest city located beyond the Arctic Circle.

Ms. Eva Sundquist, the General Consul of the General Consulate of Sweden in St.Petersburg led the delegation to Murmansk on November 27 and 28, to take part in the Days of Sweden in Murmansk. The Stockholm School of Economics in Russia was also among the participants with some heads of Swedish municipalities, business and culture representatives. "The main purpose of our visit is to develop and strengthen connections between the Murmansk region and Sweden: brotherly, interregional, educational, cultural and comercial," - Eva Sundquist commented to reporters.

The local authorities welcomed the delegates warmly. They met with the Murmansk and the region leaders. “Half of our government is here! What does this mean? For us this meeting and our interaction are not a formality", - Andrey Chibis, the Governor of the Murmansk region, greeted the guests. The presence of the Stockholm School of Economics was noted specifically: "One of the tasks is to establish a serious exchange of competencies and teachers”. In response, Vsevolod Krylov, Development Director of Stockholm School of Economics in Russia, noted: "The Stockholm School of Economics in Russia successfully teaches not only entrepreneurs. Among our graduates, there are already a lot of government employees; many finalists of the competition Leaders of Russia have already chosen our School”.

Andrei Sysoev, the head of The Administration of the city Murmansk, continued: "Of course, there is both a cultural and educational cooperation. Our children are studying in Sweden and graduating from Swedish universities”. He suggested establishing a Russian-Swedish class in Murmansk so that children could get acquainted with a neighbouring culture while they are still young. "We are not geographically limited to any particular city when it comes to creating a specialized program. This is one of our strengths", - Vsevolod replied to the mayor's question about whether the Stockholm School of Economics would be able to send its teachers to Murmansk.

Cooperation issues were raised one by one by all of the delegates and the hosts alike. It is no coincidence that during the visit Björn O. Nilsson, the Governor of Norrbotten Country, and Andrei Chibis signed a cooperation agreement. Nowadays the cooperation between regions has been going on for more than 30 years, and a lot has been done and is being done, but as Björn said: "We have to do much more. In addition, we must triple our efforts in the Barents region to live comfortably in the North area! Common factors push us to work together: outflow of population and lack of qualified employees. Joint education projects are a possible way to solve this problem”.

“The Stockholm School of Economics pays great attention to sustainable development", - Vsevolod Krylov said after his visit. - Therefore, the knowledge and experience of our teachers can be useful in order to show to the Murmansk and regional administration representatives as well as local business not only the benefits of our approach, but also practical examples of it in Sweden”.