Magnús Jóhannesson is the Director of the Arctic Council Secretariat.
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Commentary
Arctic Council Secretariat Established
Magnús Jóhannesson
The Arctic Council was established in 1996 as a high level intergovernmental forum to promote
cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic states with the involvement of Arctic
indigenous peoples and other Arctic inhabitants. The Arctic Council Chairmanship rotates every two
years amongst the eight Arctic States. The work of the Arctic Council is conducted between the
Ministerial Meetings by the Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) in consultation with Permanent
Participants, which represent the indigenous peoples of the Arctic.
In order to strengthen the capacity of the Arctic Council to respond to the challenges and
opportunities facing the Arctic, it was decided at the 2011 Ministerial meeting in Nuuk to establish a
standing Arctic Council Secretariat. The Secretariat enhances the work of the Arctic Council through
the establishment of administrative capacity and by providing continuity, institutional memory and
operational efficiency.
The Arctic Council Secretariat is located in Tromsø, Norway. It was formally established in January
2013, when the Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Espen Barth Eide, and the Director of
the Secretariat, Mr. Magnus Johannesson, signed the Host Country Agreement. By signing the
agreement, Norway formally agreed to host the Secretariat. The Secretariat became operational in
the following February when its new director, Mr. Jóhannesson, started his work. It assumed its full
responsibilities on 1 June when other members of staff started work and Canada had taken over the
Chairmanship of the Arctic Council from Sweden.
The Secretariat provides administrative and organizational support, such as arranging and servicing
meetings as required; transmitting reports to and from Arctic states, Permanent Participants and
subsidiary bodies; assisting the Chair in drafting meeting documents including final reports;
providing services to Permanent Participants and Working Groups without a secretariat; providing
administrative services concerning general correspondence; and archiving of records.
Communication and outreach is also an important part of the Secretariat‘s duties. This means
operating the Arctic Council website, including web pages of those Working Groups without a