Minister speaks out on Arctic strategy

Work on a strategy for the Arctic region is going according to plan, and all three nations in the Danish Kingdom will be involved in the planning.

So said Danish foreign minister Jeppe Kofod at last week’s Arctic Circle meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he met with his Faroese and Greenlandic counterparts, Jenis á Rana and Ane Lone Bagger.

Minister responds to critics

Danish and Greenlandic MPs have criticised the Danish government for only including civil servants in the work to create a strategy for the Arctic region, saying that politicians should also be consulted.

Faroese member of the Danish Parliament Sjúrður Skaale, who chairs the Arctic Working Group in the Danish Parliament, recently said that Denmark ought to review its foreign affairs priorities and redirect its focus from the Middle East to the Arctic region.

At last week’s meeting, Kofod responded to this criticism saying that politicians will be included in the strategy work next year.

”Politicians, researchers and industry figures across the Danish Commonwealth will be consulted about their views on our Arctic strategy, and I am looking forward to working with them.”

Cooperation is key

Kofod stressed the importance of including the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the strategy planning.

”I have made it clear to my political colleagues across the Danish Commonwealth that a strategy for the Arctic region must reflect the interests of the Faroes and Greenland, and I have told them that it makes no sense to exclude these nations from the planning work.”

Translated by prosa.fo