Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon had invited his counterparts from Russia, Norway, Denmark/Greenland and the USA to the meeting. That left out in the cold other Arctic countries like Sweden, Finland and Iceland, as well as representatives of indigenous peoples. It also challenged the role of the Arctic Council, a body which over the last years has got a stronger role as a coordinating Arctic structure.
For that, the Canadian side was criticized not only by the mentioned three Nordic countries, but also by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In her speech to the closed session, Clinton said that “Significant international discussions on Arctic issues should include those who have legitimate interests in the region,” and that “I hope the Arctic will always showcase our ability to work together, not create new divisions.”
The speech text was made available to journalists from the Washington Post.
However, it appears clear that the five states intend to continue their cooperation parallel to the work of the Arctic Council. Talking to Itar-Tass, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a chief conclusion of the Chelsea meeting is that “the Five has a full right to exist as informal machinery”.
G-5 format meetings contribute to securing that “the region is calm, peaceful, and clean”, the Foreign Minister stressed. “Therefore, I am convinced that this format will remain in demand in future as well, parallel to the strengthening of the Arctic Council. All speakers at today’s meeting favored that,” he said.
At the same time Lavrov assures that “the Arctic Five does not infringe the Arctic Council in any way [but] contributes to the solution of problems in the region”.
Read also: Cooperation and resources on Arctic agenda
Read also: Clinton: Higher U.S. attention to the Arctic
Read more about the meeting in Chelsea at the website of the Candian Foreign Ministry
