The United States will open its first diplomatic representation in northern Norway over the Arctic Circle, a region subject to growing greed and tensions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday.
The "observation post," usually occupied by a single diplomat, will open in Tromsø, the largest city in northern Norway, and will be the northernmost U.S. diplomatic representation.
Position focused on climate change
In 2020, the United States had already reopened a representation in Nuuk, Greenland, just below the Arctic Circle. Speaking in Oslo after a NATO ministerial meeting, Blinken said the United States wanted to "work with like-minded allies to advance our vision of a peaceful, stable, prosperous and cooperative Arctic."
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Our approach is exclusively to ensure that the Arctic remains a region of peaceful cooperation," the U.S. official said at a press conference, noting that the post would focus on climate change and indigenous peoples.
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The accelerated retreat of sea ice in the Arctic, due to global warming, opens up promising economic opportunities (hydrocarbons, minerals, fishing) and maritime routes that could threaten a fragile ecosystem and vulnerable populations.
Like Russia, which shares a border with Norway in the Far North, and China, the United States increasingly sees this region as strategic. Norway this month took over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council, a forum for regional cooperation largely weakened by the banishment of the region's largest country, Russia, after its offensive in Ukraine.
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The head of Norwegian diplomacy said she was "very happy" with the American decision. "Norway and the United States have been cooperating on the Arctic for a long time," Huitfeldt said in an email. "I am convinced that this will further strengthen our cooperation with the United States."
