The head of Greenland’s diplomacy took over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council on Monday, the main forum for intergovernmental cooperation in the region until 2026, in a diplomatic context made sensitive by tensions over Greenland and Russia’s exclusion.
Diplomatic activity within the Council, which includes the United States, Canada, and the five Nordic countries, has been largely dormant since Russia’s suspension in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. Scientific working groups, also paused in 2022, resumed activities in February 2024.
In the current geopolitical context, maintaining a forum for all Arctic states and the region’s Indigenous peoples is particularly important.
Quote from Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s Foreign Minister and outgoing Chair of the Arctic Council:
Vivian Motzfeldt, Greenland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Research, representing the Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland, has been appointed to chair the Council.
“We do not want to be Danish nor American,” the minister repeated to journalists, referring to tensions with the United States since Donald Trump’s administration expressed interest in acquiring Greenland.
For the next two years, the Danish chairmanship has outlined five priorities for the Arctic, a region warming four times faster than the rest of the planet: Indigenous peoples and communities, sustainable economic development and energy transition, the ocean, Arctic climate change, and biodiversity.
Since its creation in 1996, the Arctic Council has become the main arena for cooperation in a region where the rapid retreat of sea ice, caused by global warming, opens up economic opportunities (hydrocarbons, minerals, fisheries) and promising maritime routes — but also threatens a fragile ecosystem and vulnerable populations.
Source: ici radio
