Increasing Non-arctic Interest in the Arctic Council
The climate changes make the Arctic more attractive for non-arctic states
"As a result of climate change, it looks very much as though industrial development in the circumpolar Arctic in coming years and decades is going to increase," he said.
Mr. Fenge believes that the Arctic is becoming geopolitically important. "Because of that, I think we will find that there are more and more states and non-state actors that want to play a role."
This trend is confirmed by Karsten Klepsvik, the Arctic Councils chairman of Senior Arctic Officials. He explains that there is an increasing interest from many countries in the work of the council and mentions China as an example:
"At the coming meeting in northern Norway, China will come with six persons so that's definitely an indication of quite an interest."
Along with China, seven other non-Arctic countries have observer status: Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Poland and Spain.
Klepsvik said those countries want to be actively involved in the Arctic Council's discussions, projects and committees - an issue that senior officials now are going to discuss.