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Arctic Yearbook 2013
Creating a Framework for Consensus Building & Governance
attention to the economic, health, education and employment conditions of northern residents.
Other proposed studies in this area would address the means for supporting the languages and
cultures of Arctic indigenous peoples; would consider ways to provide access to traditional foods
and safe water supplies in the region; and would examine the importance of gender and gender
equality issues within northern societies and communities. Such undertakings would be facilitated
through a reinvigorated Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) that would be chaired
by a Swede and assisted in its efforts by an expanded research network of scholars drawn from
medicine, economics, the social sciences and humanities. Finally, the contributions of the business
community to the sustainable economic development of the Arctic region were to be given greater
consideration under the Swedish chairmanship. Specific meetings to assess the positive impact of
business investment and development in the Arctic were to be scheduled. This would be paired with
a consideration of a Code of Social Responsibility that might guide such business efforts.
However, perhaps the most significant undertakings of the Swedish Chairmanship were set forth
under the third heading of its thematic program. Here Sweden suggested that its most important
contribution as chair might come in helping to build a stronger and more effective Arctic Council.
Though some skeptics might question Sweden‘s credentials as an Arctic nation, none could deny its
established interest and demonstrated capabilities in organizational management. It would put these
skills to work immediately across a number of fronts. As mentioned earlier, Sweden undertook to
use its privileged position as chair to encourage the Council to conduct its business in a timely,
focused and well-organized manner. It further indicated that it would push forward vigorously on
several organizational reform efforts begun earlier under the Norwegian and Danish Chairmanships.
These included the establishment of a permanent secretariat for the organization, the creation of
revised rules of procedure, and the tightening up of communication and information sharing efforts
between the various units of the Council. Equally important, it announced that it would endeavor to
create new and effective links between the Arctic Council and the broader world. It would do so by
revamping the Council‘s website and by implementing a formal communications strategy. Sweden,
over its two years as chair, would seek to provide an identifiable ―voice and face‖ for the Council by
utilizing the most current communication methods and social media tools. The Swedish
Chairmanship team would undertake an effort to represent Arctic issues and concerns at several
international and regional conferences across the globe. Finally, the Swedish Chairmanship
announced it would work to secure an agreement on the admission of
new observers to the Council.
It would seek to build a consensus position among the existing members on this issue, and to guide
such an agreement through to final adoption by the time of the Kiruna Ministerial Meeting. In
leading such an effort, Sweden signaled that it was prepared to undertake an urgent and most
difficult assignment as chair of the Council. It was one which had frustrated and eluded its
Scandinavian predecessors for four years.
8
Making Headway on Several Fronts
As might be expected from a leadership team that was keenly focused on assisting ―the Council to
do its work,‖ the Swedish Chairmanship provided a carefully planned and tightly coordinated
schedule for the Arctic Council during its two years at its helm. It set regular formal sessions for the