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Arctic Yearbook 2013
Rendez-Vous at Reykjavik
perspectives to the work of the Council, advancing Arctic-oriented business interests, sharing best
practices and engaging in deeper cooperation. The initial focus of the Forum will be on the
extractive industries sector and related sectors such as shipping and infrastructure‖.
4
Would this
have happened had not the Icelandic president made it clear in his speech that
businesses/corporations would be welcome in a new Arctic Circle?
Looking ahead to the October meeting, I think the significance of this inaugural event (it is hoped it
will be an annual affair with a rotating Arctic location) is that it is simply happening in the first place.
Depending on the attendance list and the scope of the event, we might garner further clues to its
longer-term future. The UK government has confirmed, for example, that there will be an official
British presence. More substantively, we may well see that the Arctic Circle initiative contributes to
new pressures on the Arctic Council to grant further recognition to observer states such as China,
UK and Japan in ministerial meetings and elsewhere. Giving observers greater scope to contribute to
the formal debates of the Arctic Council might prove a decisive issue. The Circumpolar Business
Forum‘s emergence in 2014 will also be interesting to observe to assess whether this will give greater
recognition to the interests of corporations in the formal business of this inter-governmental forum.
Paradoxically, perhaps, the Arctic Circle initiative has done considerable ‗work‘ in Arctic politics
even before the inaugural meeting – recent applicants such as China are no longer ad hoc observers
of the Arctic Council after all.
Notes
1.
Icelandic President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson address at a National Press Club Luncheon
April 15, 2013 available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW0p_Eh94PI
2.
K. Dodds & V. Ingimundarson. (2012). Territorial nationalism and Arctic geopolitics:
Iceland as an Arctic coastal state.
Polar Journal
2: 21-37.
3.
P. Steinberg & K. Dodds. (2013). The Arctic Council after Kiruna.
Polar Record
. Published
online 13 August 2013. Available at:
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8970062
4.
Presentation by Patrick Borbey, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials. Pacific Northwest
Economic Region (PNWER) Conference. Anchorage, Alaska
Thursday, July 18, 12:00.
Available at:
http://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/document-archive/category/454-
canadian-chairmanship-representation?download=1800:patrick-borbey-sao-chair-speech-18-
july-2013
.