The European Commission has launched BRIDGE, an EU-funded cooperation initiative that gathers 21 towns and cities from across the Arctic to work on shared priorities. Oulu’s Head of International Affairs, Anne Rännäli-Kontturi, and the Chair of its City Board, Jarmo J. Husso, attended the launch at the EU Arctic Forum 2026 in Brussels. The initiative is meant to let more municipal leaders, Indigenous representatives and young people work together across the region.

What changes

BRIDGE stands for Building Resilient International Dialogue and Governance for Arctic Engagement. It is led by the Arctic Mayors’ Forum (AMF) and builds on the foundations of the Arctic Regional and Urban Cooperation network (AURC). BRIDGE integrates AURC’s approaches and methods into AMF’s permanent structure, extending the cooperation to more Arctic mayors and urban practitioners. AMF is a pan-Arctic forum that represents Arctic Peoples through elected leaders at municipal and community level, and its members include Indigenous Peoples from around the Arctic.

The project is funded by the Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), which works closely with the European External Action Service and the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE).

How the cooperation will work

The work runs over the next four years and brings together communities from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Although the cities differ in size and governance structures, they share a range of challenges. They are now identifying common themes for peer learning, exchanges, study visits and collaborative problem-solving.

Speaking at the launch in Brussels, Peter M. Wagner, Head of the FPI, said that at a time of ever-increasing environmental and geopolitical change, cooperation among Arctic communities is more important than ever.

Background: results of AURC

In 2024, AURC gathered 15 Arctic local authorities from Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Alaska for the first time to work on sustainable development. After two years of structured cooperation with expert support, local results were visible. They include:

  • new international welcome houses and services in Rovaniemi, Gällivare, Luleå and Tromsø;
  • plans for a new Youth Commission in Fairbanks North Star Borough, inspired by peers in Sweden, Norway, Iceland and elsewhere;
  • cross-border cultural exchanges, workshops for sustainable Arctic tourism professionals and best-practice sharing on wildfire preparedness;
  • TALENT NORTH, a new Interreg Aurora project on attracting and anchoring global talent in the Arctic, developed by the Arctic Six universities alliance and AMF with administrations and universities of several Arctic cities.