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Nielsson
The West Nordic Council‘s closest collaborator is the Nordic Council, which sees the ―Nordic
Region‘s neighbours to the west‖ (The West Nordic Council) as, ―actually an internal Nordic body‖
(Nordic Council, n.d.). The two councils work together on key issues of the West Nordic Region
and the West Nordic Council has speaking rights at the Nordic Council‘s sessions.
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The West
Nordic Council furthermore plays a role in the Nordic Council‘s external Arctic cooperation with its
North American and North European neighbours (Nordic Council, n.d.). The Nordic Council of
Ministers has observer status in the Arctic Council (Nordic Council, n.d.), while the West Nordic
Council and Nordic Council are members of a complimentary forum to the Arctic Council named
the Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region (CPAR, n.d.). The importance of Arctic
affairs has grown in the past few years within the Nordic Council and the West Nordic Council, with
both councils planning to publish their own joint Arctic strategies to better safeguard their Arctic
interests
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(Nordic Council, 2012; West Nordic Council, 2012).
The idea behind the West Nordic Council‘s Arctic strategy is that the three small countries are
stronger unified than separate and they should increase co-operation on Arctic affairs in fields where
the member states have shared interests, including a common stance on outside interest in the West
Nordic region; and to deliver joint recommendations for the Nordic Council‘s upcoming Arctic
strategy (West Nordic Council, 2012). The Nordic Council‘s Arctic strategy is likely to yield more
global influence than the West Nordic Arctic Strategy, including within the Arctic Council (see
Althingi, 2013a). A clear example that the West Nordic Countries do not hold the influence their
strategic Arctic position could possibly render them was visible at the Arctic Council‘s ministerial
meeting in Kiruna 2013. Greenland ended up boycotting the meeting altogether, not accepting being
side-lined from decisions affecting their everyday lives (Nunatsiaq, 2013). The overall weak
representation of the West Nordic Council countries in the Kiruna meeting underlines the
importance of a strong common West Nordic Arctic strategy with the ability to influence the Nordic
and Arctic Councils‘ work in a more persuasive way. The countries may also be able to strengthen
their Arctic position by contributing to other complimentary initiatives to the Arctic Council, such
as the Arctic Circle initiative that aims ―to facilitate dialogue and build relationships to confront the
Arctic's greatest challenges‖ (Arctic Circle, 2013). Such forums can provide a valuable venue for
both Arctic outsiders and insiders with weaker voices but strategic positions, e.g. the West Nordic
Countries.
The West Nordic in Arctic Policies
The West Nordic countries also have their independent Arctic strategies, the most recent being the
Parliamentary Resolution for Iceland‘s Arctic Policy (Althingi, 2011) and a Kingdom of Denmark
Strategy for the Arctic 2011-2020 (Kingdom of Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2011). The
latter is a joint Arctic Strategy based on an ―equal partnership‖ between Denmark, Greenland and
the Faroe Islands. The Kingdom‘s aim is to maintain the Arctic as a peaceful, secure and safe region
in political terms, whilst promoting both sustainable growth and development economically. The
strategy has an international outlook with a strong focus on international cooperation and economic
activities, including a positive notion towards the West Nordic Council and other organisations
promoting regional or sector-organised interests (Kingdom of Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs,