Denmark has appointed an Ambassador for Arctic Affairs to underline its interests in the Arctic region and follow through on the Danish Arctic strategy which was announced in 2011.

The new ambassador is to be Klavs Holm, currently head of the ministry’s Public Diplomacy Dept., in an appointment that has been welcomed by Greenland authorities.

“We have welcomed the foreign minister’s initiative because the Arctic is in focus. We expect the Commonwealth, which has historically played a major role in the Arctic region, to continue its active policy. The Arctic issue becomes larger for every day that passes,” says Greenland Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist.

“All of the big states are involved. Russia, Canada and the United States – but also Denmark, Iceland and the rest of Scandinavia are trying to position themselves in relation to the Arctic region. Last year we announced our common Arctic strategy, and now we have appointed an Arctic ambassador,” Kleist says.

In concrete terms, Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal says that climate change, which is resulting in increased maritime traffic in the region, also requires agreement on search and rescue in the vast region.

“It is a very big region and we need new agreements,” Søvndal says.

Søvndal has already raised the issue of the use of Thule runway and port facilities as part of a search and rescue base with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton..

“We clearly need the Americans to accept the use of Thule for civilian purposes. Now we will have a negotiating phase to discover how far we can go,” Søvndal says.

Another controversial issue likely to land on the new ambassador’s table is that of approaches by the European Union and China to be permanent observers in the Arctic Council, where major decisions on Arctic affairs are currently handled by those countries with Arctic territories.

The Arctic Council consists of the eight Arctic States: Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United Statesand with six international organisations representing Arctic indigenous peoples with permanent participant status.

Denmark’s 58-page Arctic Strategy was presented by then Foreign Minister Lene Espersen in October 2011. Apart from issues of sustainable development in the Arctic, the strategy also includes plans for Denmark to substantiate its claim to “three areas around Greenland, including an area north of Greenland which among other areas covers the North Pole."

Russia, the United States, Canada and Norway also have designs and claims on regions in the area.

Countries bordering the Arctic are entitled to a 200 nautical mile economic zone from their coastlines, but claims to extend their territories will eventually be decided under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

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