Pompeo to talk Arctic at upcoming meeting with Danish FM
The Arctic will be high on the agenda when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travels to Copenhagen at the end of the month.
While there, Pompeo will meet with Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, Greenlandic Foreign Minister Steen Lynge and the Faroe Islands’ national board member for foreign affairs Jenis av Rana.
“Since we also have to discuss Arctic issues, my colleagues from Greenland and the Faroe Islands must of course also sit at the table,” said Kofod in a news release posted Wednesday on the Danish Foreign Ministry’s website announcing the July 22 meeting.
“I personally attach crucial importance to this,” he said.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands are both autonomous territories within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Economy, trade, education and culture on the agenda
In a statement on the Greenlandic government’s website, Lynge said the meeting would be a good occasion to discuss further Greenland-U.S. cooperation on economic and cultural issues.
“I look forward to the meeting with Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo, where I will have the opportunity, on behalf of our country, to reaffirm Greenland’s strengthened relationship with the United States and highlight the continuing importance of American activities in Greenland benefiting our country and Greenland’s population,” Lynge said.
“Furthermore, I see the meeting as an opportunity to also promote other cooperation with our great neighbor, with a view to economic development, trade, education and culture.”
In addition to Arctic affairs, Denmark’s Kofod said the continuing fallout from COVID-19, along with security and trade, will also be on the agenda.
Pompeo’s last trip to Denmark was in 2016, the news release said.
Kofod last met Pompeo in Washington, D.C. in 2019.
Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca
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