Canada and France will open diplomatic consulates in Greenland in a strong show of support for NATO ally Denmark and in the wake of US efforts to secure control of the Arctic island.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand travelled to Nuuk on Friday to open the consulate, which officials say could enhance cooperation on climate change and Inuit rights.
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She was accompanied by Canada’s Indigenous governor general, Mary Simon.
France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said Jean-Noel Poirier also would take up his duties as consul general, making it the first European Union country to establish a consulate general in Greenland.
Poirier will be “tasked with working to deepen existing cooperation projects with Greenland in the cultural, scientific, and economic fields, while also strengthening political ties with the local authorities,” the ministry said.
“The first item on the agenda will be to listen to Greenlanders, to hear them, to let them explain in detail their position, and from our side to confirm to them our support, as much as they and the Danish side want,” Poirier told the AFP news agency.
Canada, which Trump has called upon to give up its sovereignty and become the 51st state of the US, pledged to open a consulate in Greenland in 2024, before Trump’s recent talk of a takeover, and the formal inauguration was delayed from November because of bad weather.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons.
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Trump last month backed off threats to seize Greenland after saying he had struck a “framework” deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater US influence.
A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss Washington’s security concerns in the Arctic, but details have not been made public.
Iceland opened a consulate in Nuuk in 2013, while the United States, which had a consulate in the Greenlandic capital from 1940 to 1953, reopened its mission in 2020.
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