The Polar Silk Road, officially proposed by Chinese and Russian leaders in 2017, was in the spotlight during this year's Arctic Circle Assembly, which concluded on Sunday in Iceland's capital Reykjavik, China Media Group (CMG) reported.

The Polar Silk Road refers to an Arctic shipping route connecting three major economic centers – North America, East Asia and Western Europe – through the Arctic Circle. As melting sea ice in the Arctic is making it possible for the region to open to navigation, it is likely to create significantly shortened shipping lanes.

Participants at the assembly said opening the Arctic route will promote the overall growth of the economy in the circumpolar North and bring about major changes in global trade and shipping patterns, CMG reported.

As an important stakeholder in the Arctic, China released its first white paper on Arctic policy in 2018, to "jointly understand, protect, develop and participate in the governance of the Arctic, and advance Arctic-related cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative."

According to the white paper, the initiative will bring opportunities for concerned parties to jointly build a Polar Silk Road, and facilitate connectivity and sustainable economic and social development of the Arctic.

Arctic Circle Chairman Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said at the assembly that China and the Arctic have close links, and China has participated in Arctic-related dialogue and cooperation in a constructive and pragmatic manner.

"So far, China has brought primary science and diplomacy policy making into the Arctic dialogue," Grimsson told CMG. "In the meantime, we have seen very important projects between Russia and China, and the gas pipeline from the Siberian part of Russia all the way down to Shanghai is an illustration of new infrastructure project through the north."

China and Russia have cooperated effectively on liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, for which global demand has rapidly increased.

The Yamal LNG project, located on Russia's Yamal Peninsula inside the Arctic Circle, is the first Polar Silk Road cooperation project between the two countries and the largest LNG project in the world. It was put into operation in 2017, and the first LNG shipment was delivered to China in July 2018.

In August 2021, China Communications Construction Company won the contract to construct an LNG terminal in the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, which will further extend Russia's LNG shipments to Asia.