THE Canada plans to open two new consulates in Greenland and in AnchoringAlaska, as part of efforts to strengthen its presence in ArcticForeign Minister Anita Anand said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to strengthen Canada’s military and security presence in the Arctic, an icy, mineral-rich region that is increasingly attracting interest from US President Donald Trump, as well as Russia and China.
In an interview with Reuters, Anand said the Arctic was Canada’s top foreign policy priority.
“The region is extremely important now as we see Russian infrastructure moving further north and the Northwest Passage becoming easier to cross due to melting ice caps,” he said.
Canada planned to open a consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, in November, but had to postpone it due to bad weather.
Anand, in turn, said there is still no set date for the opening of a Canadian consulate in Anchorage.
Earlier this year, Trump stoked tensions between Arctic countries by expressing interest in acquiring Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
Asked how Canada was responding to Trump’s desire to annex Greenland, Anand said she had been lobbying her Nordic counterparts “to make sure there is no doubt about the importance of the Arctic and certainly about Canada’s sovereignty.”
She also said she recently spoke with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and encouraged him to strengthen resources in the Arctic.
“The question I asked him was: ‘What will NATO actually do?’ Because Canada will strengthen our presence in the Arctic,” Anand said, referring to Carney’s plans to increase defense spending to 2% of the country’s GDP later this year and to 5% by 2035.
Anand said he plans to invite a group of foreign ministers to visit the Canadian Arctic next summer.
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