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Arctic Yearbook 2013
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Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) and the Permanent Participants (PP) on a biannual basis. During
November of 2011 and 2012 they gathered in the northern Swedish communities of Luleå and
Haparanda. During March of the same years, they met in the capital city of Stockholm. These
sessions – especially those in Swedish Norrland – allowed the several delegations to get an
impression of life in that part of the circumpolar north. These formal meetings were supplemented
by informal gatherings held in Tromsø, Norway in January of 2013 and in Stockholm in April 2013
where the SAOs and the PPs were able to take additional time to consider items of some complexity
and ongoing concern such as the observer question. They also provided an opportunity to celebrate
achievements such as the formal start of the Permanent Secretariat in Tromsø and to carefully plan
the specifics of the upcoming Kiruna ministerial meeting. During this same time period, the Swedish
Chairmanship also planned a mid-term meeting for Deputy Foreign Ministers on Arctic matters that
occurred in Stockholm in May of 2012 and assisted in coordinating a gathering of the
Environmental Ministers from the Arctic Eight in Jukkasjärvi in February of 2013.
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The Swedish Chairmanship also endeavored to provide direction and assistance to the several
working groups and task forces of the Council. Gustaf Lind met with the chairs of each of these
bodies very early in his term as the Swedish head of the SAOs. He conveyed the clear message that
all of these groups should endeavor to follow a well-planned and executed work schedule over the
next two years. In so doing, he argued that they would be better able to share their undertakings at
the regular SAO meetings and guarantee the delivery of their final reports or other
deliverables at
the Ministerial Meeting in Kiruna. Perhaps at no previous time in the history of the Arctic Council
had the Chairmanship been so deeply engaged in the process of overseeing and coordinating the
work of these groups – many of which had operated in a fairly autonomous fashion up to this point.
Such intervention ―from the top‖ was generally received in a positive fashion by most members of
the Council‘s working groups and task forces – though a few grumbled over what they saw as
―excessive regimentation‖ coming from the Swedish Chairmanship. Regardless, these several bodies
undertook a large number of successful research efforts during this period and were to report their
findings in a series of well-received scientific studies at the Ministerial Meeting in Kiruna.
The work of two of these groups – the Task Force for Institutional Issues and the Sustainable
Development Working Group – were accorded special attention by the Swedish Chairmanship. The
former, led by Andreas von Uexküll – a member of the Swedish Chairmanship team – was given the
key responsibilities for concluding the arrangements for the legal status and formal operation of the
new Permanent Secretariat in Tromsø. This body was also tasked with the assignments of revising
the Arctic Council‘s Rules of Procedure and drafting a manual to guide the future participation of
observers within the Council and in its subsidiary bodies. The latter group, the SDWG, was chaired
by Michael Anzén – also a member of the Swedish Chairmanship team – and given the mandate to
broaden and highlight its efforts
including those related to the Arctic Resilience Study and the
proposed outreach to the business community. In each instance, the accomplishments of these
bodies were seen as vital to the overall success of the Swedish Chairmanship.
An equally significant undertaking during this period of time was the drafting of the proposed
agreement on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic. The successful