Iqaluit to host 2015 Arctic Council ministerial gathering

Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, Canada’s minister to the Arctic Council, at a 2012 consultation meeting in Iqaluit. (FILE PHOTO)

Canada will host the Arctic Council’s next ministerial meeting next April in Iqaluit, the minister for the Arctic Council, Leona Aglukkaq, announced Sept. 12.

As Canada’s stint as chair of the council comes to an close in 2015, the meetings will bring together ministers of the eight Arctic states on the Arctic Council and representatives of the indigenous permanent participants, who will to set the council’s objectives for the period between 2015 and 2017.

The United States will assume the Arctic Council chairmanship by May of 2015.

To that end, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has already named retired Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., a U.S. Coast Guard commander with more than 30 years of experience with Arctic issues, as the U.S. Special Representative to the Arctic.

Papp has already begun holding consultation meetings in Alaska to prepare for the U.S. chairmanship, focusing on climate change, as well as economic, environmental, and security issues in the Arctic.

An Iqaluit venue has not been announced to host the ministerial meetings, which will run April 24 and 25, 2015.

An event will also be hosted in Ottawa ahead of the meetings – on April 23 – to highlight the council’s accomplishments during Canada’s chairmanship, said a Sept. 12 release.

The Arctic Council, established in Ottawa in 1996, is widely regarded as the leading body for international cooperation in Arctic regions.

The 2015 meetings return to their first host city — the inaugural Arctic Council ministerial meetings were first held in Iqaluit in 1998.

Just last month, Iqaluit also hosted the founding meeting of the Arctic Economic Council, the Arctic Council’s new business forum made up of 42 business representatives appointed by the eight Arctic states and the council’s permanent indigenous participant organizations.

Following the meeting, the group pledged to focus on building strong market connections between Arctic states and encouraging public-private partnerships for infrastructure.

The AEC also promises to dedicate its time on Indigenous knowledge, stewardship and small business.

The body is considered one of the centerpieces of Canada’s Arctic Council chairmanship.