The contestants' work will be evaluated by certified experts of the Skills and Professions Development Agency. The championship will be held as part of the main events schedule of Russia's chairmanship in the Arctic Council in 2021-2023, operated by the Roscongress Foundation.

Federal legislation outlines staffing in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation as a priority factor of socio-economic development in the region. These goals and the mechanisms for their implementation will be the focus of the business programme at the Skills Championship in northern professions.

The plenary session titled 'Personnel for the new economy of the Arctic zone' will be a major event of the championship's business section. The speakers are expected to be Aleksey Chekunkov, Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic; Andrey Chibis, Governor of the Murmansk Region; Leonid Irlitsa, Director General of FSUE Atomflot; Darya Kryachkova, Vice President for Personnel Policy of MMC Norilsk Nickel; Yuliya Khanzhina, Deputy Director of the Young Professionals Direction of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives for the Promotion of New Projects, as well as other government and business representatives.

According to Andrey Pivinskiy, Advisor to the Director General of the Skills and Professions Development Agency, the main problems of Russia's Northern regions are talent sortage and an imbalance between the enterprises' needs and the local labor market capacity. In a bid to solve them, mechanisms must be created for staffing the economy; they should coordinate the demand of enterprises, educational opportunities and personnel policy of the regions' executive authorities.

'At the enterprise level, the corporate standards are a crucial tool. They include workplace descriptions, which cover parameters such as the required skills, the necessary equipment, evaluation tools, as well as an explanation of what the finished product is, and much more. Corporative standards help improve the quality of each employee's work, determine the qualification level of the personnel, trim down the adaptation period, as well as minimize the equipment failure risks. Our experience confirms their high efficiency in various industries,' Andrey Pivinskiy stated.

Effective cooperation between business and government representatives will also help alleviate the shortage of general talent and qualified professionals. Such interaction will help prepare new graduates for the challenges a developing region faces. The discussion will be held in an interactive format. The programme coaches will pose open-ended questions in real time, and participants will be able to join the discussion online.

The championship is organised by the Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, as well as the Government of the Murmansk Region.