Infrastructure, energy and critical raw materials: focus on the Arctic dossier in Rome

Italia looks to the Arctic, to the Great North. It does so in its role as permanent observer of the Arctic Council, in a context characterised by global competition for resources, starting with critical raw materials. The dossier, in its many facets, is at the centre of the seventh edition of Arctic Connections, the international conference that on Monday 2 March at the Circolo degli Esteri in Rome will address the issue of security in strategic domains. Promoted by the Italian Society for International Organisation, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Italia, and the High North Centre for Business and Governance, the initiative brings together Italian and international institutional, academic, and industrial representatives. Scientific research is the prime mover of Italian action in the Arctic.

The aim of the conference is to define operational priorities to protect the freedom of navigation and ensure the sustainability of Arctic routes, also on the basis of public-private cooperation. There will be four strands: the evolution of international relations and the role of the Arctic in new geopolitical developments, the development of infrastructure and connection networks, the submarine dimension and the safeguarding of freedom of navigation, and geo-economic challenges related to energy and critical raw materials (nickel, platinum, palladium, lithium, rare earths and others). Indeed, in a fact-finding report published last year by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, the emphasis was placed on the fact that overheating has contributed to easier access to raw materials such as rare earths and precious metals, gas and oil, as well as making the opening of new commercial maritime routes increasingly concrete.

In the year of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Arctic Council, the importance of the role of observer states such as Italia emerges, not only in resolving the governance crisis, but also in the contribution of its scientific and technological industrial sector in addressing new global security challenges.

The initiative comes on the eve of the Arctic Circle Forum conference, which this year will be held for the first time in Rome on 3 and 4 March. It is an international event, organised on the initiative of Iceland, and represents the largest forum for international dialogue and cooperation on the topic of the Arctic. The Arctic Circle Forum is organised by the Ministry of University and Research, in cooperation with the National Research Council.

Today, security challenges are no longer confined within traditional frameworks, linked to territorial disputes, the military dimension or geopolitical confrontation. The Arctic is a laboratory where traditional security concepts are intertwined with new hybrid threats and emerging domains: the growing importance of underwater infrastructure, the security of energy routes and submarine cables, digital communications, data sharing and all those 'grey' activities that influence and destabilise regional actors and their dynamics. Besides being a laboratory, the Arctic is also an observatory, where it is possible to understand and analyse how these new critical factors, enhanced by climate change, may redefine not only the governance of the region, but also the boundaries of global security.