Arctic Council should get bigger policy role, Norwegian diplomat says

The idea that Russia and other Arctic nations are ready to fight over the Arctic’s riches is “total nonsense,” says Anton Vasiliev, an ambassador at large for Russia’s foreign affairs ministry, shown here May 5 at a polar shipping conference in Montreal. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

MONTREAL — The Arctic Council, which plans to meet next month in Illulissat, Greenland to discuss oil drilling in the Arctic, wants to play a greater role in developing joint international policies for its eight member nations than is now the case, Else Berit Eikeland, Norway’s ambassador to Canada, said May 5 at polar shipping conference in Montreal.

Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the United States sit on the Arctic Council.

Since 1996, the Arctic Council has served mainly as a high-level forum to advance circumpolar co-operation, to protect the Arctic environment, and to promote the economic, social and cultural well-being of its member.

But discussions are now underway to strengthen the role of the Arctic Council and give the forum a much stronger role in international policy-making, Eikeland said.

“We want discussion in the Arctic Council, and we want it to open up,” she said.

But Eikeland hinted that the Arctic Council may get a permanent secretariat and permanent funding instead of relying on money handed out sporadically by its eight members for various projects.

The chair of the Arctic Council rotates between its eight member countries, and Canada is slated to chair the organization from 2013 to 2014.

Under the Arctic Council, “pragmatic” and “practical” co-operation will continue to be the guiding principle for Arctic states, Eikeland said, pointing to a recent agreement between Norway and Russia that resolves a longstanding boundary dispute in the Arctic Ocean.

This deal paves the way for the 2013 recognition of Arctic Ocean boundaries under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

This agreement demonstrates there’s no “Russia is going to get us” mentality in Norway, Eikeland said.

“We recognize the Arctic as a low-tension area. We don’t see any military threats,” she said.

The Arctic will remain a place of peace and co-operation, she said.

Another speaker, Steve Carmel, senior vice-president of the huge Maersk shipping line, suggested the Arctic Ocean needs a management treaty similar to an existing treaty that covers the Mediterranean Sea and has been ratified by all Mediterranean nations.

Anton Vasiliev, Russia’s ambassador to the Arctic Council and other Arctic co-operation groups, said there are no disputes over international boundaries in the Arctic Ocean.

The recent deal between Russia and Norway on their shared boundary shows that, Vasiliev said in an interview.

All Arctic coastal nations will agree through negotiation on their Arctic Ocean boundaries because that’s the way the United Nations Convention Law of the Sea is intended to work, he said.

However, Rob Huebert, a political scientist from Calgary’s centre for military and strategic studies, sees signs that point to conflict, not co-operation.

The Arctic is in the throes of a military build-up, Huebert said during his May 5 address to the meeting on polar shipping.

Climate change and potential disputes over the Arctic’s natural resources have created an uncertain international security environment where states want to protect their own interests, Huebert said.

Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States have either begun to rebuild their military forces and infrastructure or will do so in the near future, he said:

• Canada plans to buy new Arctic patrol vessels and build training centres, and it’s increased the number of Canadian Rangers and conducts regular military exercises, like last month’s Nunalivut;

• Russia is focusing on the North as its economic driver and building up its northern fleet;

• The United States has invested in ice-class submarines and will station 20 per cent of its new F-22 bombers in Alaska;

• Finland and Sweden are participating in northern military exercises; and,

• Denmark and Norway have already spent a lot of money rebuilding their military forces, with Norway buying 48 F-35 stealth fighter jets.

“Norway has gotten combat-capable forces the likes of which it has never seen before,” Huebert said.

Publicly Arctic states want to be perceived as cooperating in the region, he said.

But if Arctic states were really serious about co-operating they would discuss security at the Arctic Council, he suggested — something it hasn’t even come close to doing yet.

Vasiliev dismissed Huebert’s evidence of militarization in the Arctic as “total nonsense” and “from another planet.”

“The situation forces us to agree not to fight. We are forced to agree,” Vasiliev said.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion, Vasiliev also blamed the media for creating “problems where there are no problems” in the Arctic. Journalists focus on “apocalyptic scenarios” because they need to sell newspapers, he said.

About 35 representatives from shipping companies, governments and public agencies attended the conference on shipping in downtown Montreal, which was intended to present a “uniquely commercial perspective on the future of Arctic shipping.”

Called a “Polar Shipping Summit,” the two-day conference on May 5 and 6 was organized by a private group from the U.K. called Active Communications International.