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Clinton to assert U.S. interest Arctic

Hillary Clinton and Jonas Gahr Støre in Oslo. Clinton spends one day in Northern Norway during her first visit to to Norway as U.S. Secretary of State. Foto: Elin Bjerkebo, Utenriksdepartementet

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will assert her country’s interest in the Arctic when she visits the region on Saturday.

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Clinton’s aim is to emphasize that the U.S. is keeping its eye on the Arctic and remains very keen. 

Testifying earlier in May before the U.S. Senate, Clinton said that as the Arctic warmed: “It is more important that we put our navigational rights on a treaty footing and have a larger voice in the interpretation and development of the rules. You will see China, India, Brazil, you-name-it — all vying for navigational rights and routes through the Arctic”, Reuters write.

Hillary Clinton landed in Norway Thursday night. She will take first part in a conference in Oslo on international efforts to improve women’s and children’s rights and health before leaving for Northern Norway. 

This is Hillary Clinton’s first trip to Norway as U.S. Secretary of State. She visited the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard while she was still a US Senator and was also in Lillehammer as First Lady, when her husband Bill Clinton was US President.

Clinton will arrive in Tromsø Friday evening and spend the next day in this Town. Which is Norway’s largest above the Arctic circle. She and her team will go on a boat trip on the University of Tromsø’s research vessel “Lance”. During the boat trip Clinton and Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre will meet with different key persons on Arctic research, Nordlys writes.

The visit is part of an eight-day trip to Scandinavia, the Caucasus and Turkey.