US to open diplomatic station in Arctic Norway, says Blinken
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's announcement comes three weeks after Norway took over from Russia the chairmanship of the Arctic Council.
PHOTO: AFP
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OSLO – The United States will open its northernmost diplomatic station in the Norwegian Arctic town of Tromso, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday, at a time when cooperation among the Arctic nations has been hit by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The region is becoming strategically more important as a shrinking ice cap opens up new sea lanes and attracts other nations seeking its largely untapped natural resources.
“To deepen our own engagement in the high north, I am announcing today the United States will be opening an American presence post in Tromso,” Mr Blinken told reporters after a two-day meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Oslo.
“For us, the presence post in Tromso is really an ability to have a diplomatic footprint above the Arctic Circle,” he said.
The post would open “later this year” and would be staffed with one US diplomat, the US Embassy in Oslo said in a statement, noting that the US had an office in Tromso until 1994.
Mr Blinken’s announcement comes three weeks after Norway took over from Russia the chairmanship of the Arctic Council,
It comprises the eight Arctic states of Russia, the US, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark.
Cooperation between the Western Arctic states and Moscow on the Arctic body has been frozen since the invasion of Ukraine.
On Thursday, Mr Blinken said the US approach was focused on increasing diplomacy in the region.
“Our entire approach is to make sure that the Arctic remains an area of peaceful cooperation,” he said. REUTERS
