Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 39

TÝDNINGURIN AV TVØRTJOÐA SAMSTARVI í NORÐURATLANTSØKINUM
37
North-South European versus East-
West European economic relations
The existing regimes of the Northern re-
gions are dominated by economic and po-
litical links functioning on a North-South
axis. Economic centres of processing,
product development and consumption of
raw materials from the North, are located in
what might, relatively speaking, be called
the South. Political centres of national gov-
ernments as well as the EU are also South-
based. This fact could be viewed as a threat
to, but also as a nrotivating force for, the de-
velopment of circumpolar East-West coop-
eration.
Experiences gained from the North
Calotte Cooperation since 1967, as well as
the West Nordic Cooperation, clearly
demonstrate the difficulties of a Northern
regional strategy based on the intention to
develop intra-regional interaction in trade
and transport (Wiberg, 1996: 198ff; Oksa
and Saastamoinen, 1995). As producers of
specialised raw materials and semi-
processed products, the East-West trade po-
tential between the regions of the North
Calotte is fairly limited, although some ad-
ditional opportunities exist if the Kola
Peninsula (the Murmansk Region in ad-
ministrative terms) is included. It is inter-
esting to note that after applying abstract
trade theory, empirical evidence also gives
fish products and ship repairs as industries
where trade is actually taking place (Heen
and Peshev, 1993: 156-157). Concrete net-
works relating to sectoral interests are often
more important than the possession of gen-
eral comparative advantages. Another sec-
tor of growing inter-Calotte trade has been
forestry - between Finnish Lapland and
Swedish Norrbotten in the 1970-80s, and
recently between Finland and the Karelian
Republic. The dynamics of such trade and
cooperation may well be the very unequal
relationship between regions rich in raw
materials but not in capital, and regions of
processing with a stronger concentration of
capital. Trade and cooperation are often
found within sectors characterised by both
rivalry and competition.
Experiences of East-West infrastructure
projects clearly illustrate the problems of
limited trade and social interaction within
these sparsely populated areas. Infrastruc-
tural potential is usually concerned with
projects that will add access routes to inter-
national connections in passenger trans-
port, or for the export of raw materials.
Such examples illustrate the dominance of
North-South orientation and raw material
export from the North of the Northern re-
gions. In this pattern, internal complemen-
tary features of economies in the Northern
regions only play a subordinate role.
Functional integration into the interna-
tional division of labour is not the only pos-
sible basis for regional cooperation, al-
though certain aspects of such functional
integration are necessary to secure the
livelihood of a region’s inhabitants. In the
way that certain place-/region-specific con-
ditions can make production competitive
because of location, functional integration
is as important as territorial integration
(Asheim, 1993).
Apart from access to local natural re-
sources, the single most important aspect of
territorial integration is the population in