North Pole on the agenda
2008-05-29 13:57
Copenhagen, Denmark - Five countries with competing claims to the Arctic agreed on Wednesday that control of the region where the polar melt is expected to free up hugely valuable resources will be decided in an orderly way.
The nations surrounding the Arctic signed a declaration that "creates a good political framework for a peaceful development in the Arctic Ocean in the future", said Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller who co-hosted a meeting in Greenland.
At stake may be large amounts of fossil fuels. A US study suggests the region may hold 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.
The foreign ministers of Denmark, Norway and Russia, Canada's natural resource minister and a US deputy secretary of state had gathered in Ilulissat, 250km north of the Arctic Circle.
While no claims were on the agenda, the countries involved reaffirmed their commitment to international treaties governing the region.
"The five nations have now declared that they will follow the rules," Moeller said. "We have hopefully quelled all myths about a race for the North Pole once and for all."
Interest in the region is intensifying because global warming is shrinking the polar ice, and that could someday open up resource development and new shipping lanes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying he did not "share any alarming forecasts of an expected confrontation between the interests of the Arctic states and the nations beyond the region, a future 'battle for the Arctic Ocean."'
Denmark gathering scientific evidence
"We firmly believe that all questions arising here should be solved in a civilised manner on the basis of international law through negotiations," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax agency.
A UN panel is supposed to decide on control of the Arctic by 2020.
Moeller co-hosted the meeting with Hans Enoksen, the premier of Greenland, which is a semiautonomous Danish territory.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Canada's Natural Resource Minister Gary Lunn, and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere of Norway also attended the meeting.
Under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Arctic nations have 10 years after ratification to prove their claims under the largely uncharted polar ice pack. All countries with claims to the Arctic have ratified the treaty, with the exception of the United States.
President George W Bush has been pushing the US Senate to ratify the treaty.
The Law of the Sea, concluded in 1982 and in force since 1994, would give the United States "a seat at the table" when rights over natural resources are debated, Bush said in October. Opponents say that the agreement would impinge on US military and economic sovereignty.
Canada has announced plans to build a new army training centre and a deep-water port in contested Arctic waters. Norway, the US, Denmark and Russia also have claims in the vast region.
Denmark is gathering scientific evidence to show that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 2 000km underwater mountain range, is attached to Greenland, making it a geological extension of the island.
Other topics on the agenda included the marine environment, maritime safety and division of emergency responsibilities if new shipping routes open up as the polar ice cap melts due to global warming.
- AP