Slicing up the continental shelf

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Norway’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, met his Danish counterpart, Per Stig Møller, in Copenhagen, Denmark this week to sign an agreement that spells out how the two countries plan to share the polar continental shelf ocean area between Norway’s Svalbard Islands and Greenland.

The agreement covers a huge area of about 150,000 square kilometres.

The region between Greenland and Svalbard has been divided down the middle, the Aftenposten reports.

The newspaper says the fact that the “down the middle” principle was applied may strengthen Norway’s hand in negotiations with Russia over sovereignty of the continental shelf.