The Arctic Imperative Summit is back in Alaska for the second year and people from around the state are working to show world investors and businesses why Alaska is a great place to be.
For years the Arctic was untouchable tundra but times are changing and the name fits more than ever… The Last Frontier.
Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell says, “The Arctic is newly accessible. Now in this generation, in our time in human history this is becoming commonplace...We ship goods up through the Arctic Ocean to support our communities but there's ways we're going to be shipping more goods out of Alaska through the Arctic."
But to ship goods we need businesses and investors. Both are here, attending the 3 day Arctic Imperative Summit. Leaders from around the state expressed why they feel Alaska is such a great place to break ground. Commissioner Bryan Butcher with the department of revenue says tax incentives are one such reason.
Butcher says, “Because we've got plentiful reserves in Alaska were able to have a little bit if flexibility to use tax credits to try and invent Arctic industries. Incentivize exploration in oil and gas in different regions of the state incentivizes. Oh and the film industry."
Treadwell says, “The Arctic is getting to be so ripe for investment and that means jobs for Alaskans and that's why we're glad they're all here."
On top of representatives from Alaska Native Corporations the conference is hosting people from other countries including China and Norway. Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell says this is a great way to coordinate with other countries to help all of our economies.
Treadwell says, “In some of these cases we compete with other Arctic nations to attract investments but in many of these ways we have to cooperate with other Arctic nations. If we have a port in the Aleutians that’s helping ship goods across the Arctic Ocean we need another port in the Arctic Nation on the other side to work that.”
