Norway's Arctic town envisions gateway on Polar Silk Road with link to China

KIRKENES, Norway, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Envisioning a new port on the Barents Sea coast and a railway that goes all the way southward to the Baltic Sea, Norway's Arctic town of Kirkenes sets its sight on a major European hub on a Polar Silk Road with link to China. Finland and Norway announced on Friday plans to explore building an Arctic railway between Finland's northern city of Rovaniemi and Norway's ice-free port of Kirkenes. This agreement came after Norway plans to develop new harbor and terminal areas near Kirkenes, a town in the Sor-Varanger municipality in Norway's northeastern county of Finnmark.