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Arctic Yearbook 2013
The West Nordic Council and Its Arctic Engagement
2011). Both Greenland and Faroe Islands also independently highlight the importance of West
Nordic Cooperation within their own governments, with the Greenland government‘s website citing
that its ―[s]pecial cooperation with Iceland and the Faroe Islands is organised through the Nordic
Atlantic Cooperation and the West Nordic Foundation‖ (Naalakkersuisut, n.d.), while the Faroe
Islands encourages that ―[a] joint West Nordic approach in Arctic cooperation, together with
Iceland, Greenland and northern Norway, should be promoted and enhanced‖ in their strategic
assessment titled ―The Faroe Islands – a Nation in the Arctic: Opportunities and Challenges‖
(Faroe Islands Prime Minister‘s Office, 2013).
The Icelandic Arctic strategy is more specific in its approach concerning its West Nordic partners,
naming only Greenland and the Faroe Islands
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and the importance of strengthening and increasing
the cooperation between the three countries with the aim of promoting their interests and political
position. There is a special emphasis on economic cooperation, and the issues identified for Arctic
cooperation include trade, energy, resource utilisation, environmental issues and tourism. The
strategy states that ―increased cooperation between the West Nordic countries will strengthen their
international and economic position as well as their politico-security dimension‖ (Althingi, 2011: 8).
Iceland‘s stress on West Nordic cooperation within an Arctic context only seems to be growing.
This can be seen in the reports of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Icelandic Parliament in
recent years (see e.g. Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2011; ibid., 2012; ibid., 2013a) and in a
political manifesto of the current Icelandic government, which says: ―the Government will work
towards making Iceland a leading power in the Arctic and an engaged participant in West Nordic
affairs‖ (Government Offices of Iceland, 2013: 11).
Strengthening the West Nordic: Cooperation and Clear Arctic Vision
It is important to keep in mind that there are some fields where the countries do not have aligned
Arctic interests, the most pervasive issue perhaps being the ―Arctic Five‖ (A5) meetings of the
Arctic Ocean Coastal States. These meetings are promoted by the government of Denmark while
Iceland, amongst others, has openly voiced its concern of the A5 exclusive manner by not including
Iceland, Sweden, Finland nor the Aboriginal peoples of the Arctic but discussing matters that should
rather be resolved within the Arctic Council (Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 2010). Even
though competition possibilities between West Nordic actors in terms of business opportunities
such as transhipment-hubs, search and rescue centres, tourism etc. have been making the news in
recent times, there are greater possibilities for cooperation than conflict between the various
stakeholders in the West Nordic region.
Increased cooperation potential is to be found especially in a field such as energy, where all actors
have sovereign rights over their resources and ideas such as a ―North Atlantic Energy Triangle for
offshore oil exploration and production, covering East Greenland, to the Jan Mayen Ridge and
south to the Icelandic Dreki Area‖ has been proposed by Mr. Össur Skarphedinsson, who served as
Iceland‘s Minister for Foreign Affairs 2009-2013 (Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 2013b), as
well as cooperation on renewable energy utilisation in the West Nordic region that shows great