OREANDA-NEWS. January 18, 2013. Novosibirsk International Airport welcomed the first participants and guests of the World Snow Forum 2013 which will be held from 17 to 20 January in the Novosibirsk Expocentre. The forum is supposed to highlight the key issues of creating comfortable environment and development strategies of the nothern city areas.

The programme of the World Snow Forum includes International Congress “Ecology of Northern Territories”, international exhibitions “International Snow City Exhibition” and “International Snow Sports Exhibition”. Over 200 participants and guests will arrive to the heart of Siberia being welcomed at Novosibirsk International Airport, the official partner of the event.

The forum organizers invited the world-famous scientists and researchers in such fields as ecology, geography, climatology, oceanics, chemistry, geophysics along with the housing maintenance and utilities experts and travel business delegates from Russia, Norway, Finland, Germany, Austria, the USA, Spain, Switzerland, France and Sweden.

Besides the scientific business block, the forum programme includes the following cultural events: “Snow Russian Ballet” that will take place on the stage of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, the beauty contest “Miss Snow Universe”, “World Snow Sculpture Competition” and other events.

Novosibirsk International Airport (Tolmachevo) is the largest air hub east of the Urals on major transit routes between Europe and Asia. The domestic airline capacity makes up 1,800 passengers per hour, on international flights – 750 passengers per hour. The airport has two runways. In 2013 it expects to serve over 3.7 million passengers. The airport has been nominated for World Routes Awards in the category “The Best Airport of CIS 2012”.

The World Snow Forum organized by the Novosibirsk Region Administration with the support of the Government of the Russian Federation, the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Geographical Society, the largest Russian and foreign research organizations and business communities in association with “Novosibirsk Expocentre”.Forum will be hosted by Novosibirsk for the first time.