To mark the Arctic Council’s 30th anniversary, we conducted a series of interviews with the people who helped build the Arctic Council, shape its work and carry it through some of its most challenging moments.
In this interview, we sat down with Ambassador Morten Høglund of Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials during Norway’s Arctic Council Chairmanship from 2023-2025.
In 2022, all official Arctic Council meetings were put on pause. Morten Høglund speaks about his experience leading the Council through these unprecedented times.
Morten Høglund: It was a huge challenge what we were facing at that time. So much uncertainty. So for us, not knowing what was going to happen, it was really critical to be talking to as many people in the Arctic Council family as we could to get a feel of their ambitions.
That the Arctic Council was important was a given, and this became very clear to me during this dialog. So the critical issue was to make sure that the Arctic Council continued to be a relevant and important platform for Arctic cooperation. That was absolutely what guided us, and everything else had to fit into that plan because if the Council faded away, we would have lost.
Morten Høglund: The normal meeting calendar didn't exist anymore, but still, it was so important that we met with representatives in the Council, and also that they met with each other as much as it could happen.
We could focus on everything that was impossible, but instead, we started looking at what is actually doable. We started by meeting in-person with Chairs and representatives from all the Working Groups just a few weeks after we took over as Chair in June 2023. Then in fall 2023, the Chairship met with all six Indigenous Permanent Participants in person in Kirkenes, Norway. That felt very good to meet with them, see them, and interact with each other. It was so important to get their input on the status of the Arctic Council, but also to discuss the things that we usually discuss in Arctic Council meetings – the issues people face in the region.
This approach was meaningful in many ways. It was not, of course, a substitution for full Arctic Council meetings with everyone present in the same room at the same time, but it gave an element of activity and important feedback to us in how we should lead the Council.
Morten Høglund: From very early on, even before Norway assumed the Chair, our ambition was to get the critical work of the Working Groups up and running again. The Arctic Council is recognized for all the quality work coming out of the Working Groups. If that work was not given the opportunity to function, I think we would be in a very sad state.
So, some small steps were taken quite soon after we took on the Chairship. But of course, you need a consensus decision by all the States in consultation with all the Permanent Participants in order to achieve this.
It's no secret that the times were sensitive. It still is sensitive. There were many discussions ongoing at different levels – at the diplomatic level, but also at the political level. Our ambition as Chair was to try to get this set in motion as fast as we could.
I was impatient. I felt and I heard the pressure and the impatience coming from the Working Groups. I think they had every right to be impatient, but of course, things take time. I was very pleased when we were able to gradually start virtual Working Groups meetings, which are still continuing now, and allow them to advance their work and discuss new projects.
This was a game changer because it also signaled both internally and externally that we are able to progress. It's not full stop. The Arctic Council is considered important by the members of the Council. There is a willingness to let this cooperation continue. For so many reasons, it was very important that we had this breakthrough. I felt relief and joy that Working Groups could finally start having these meetings again.
Morten Høglund: If a cooperation like the Arctic Council is not doing anything, I think that would probably be the end of the Council. Other platforms, other arenas would have overtaken us. The Arctic is changing so fast. The interest is so huge. So we need to be up to speed. We need to discuss the important issues in the Arctic. We need to have an international platform that gives the opportunity to be on top of these issues.
In addition to making sure that the Working Groups could operate, it was also, for us as Chair, important that we focus on certain issues within the Arctic. So, with a lot of support from the Indigenous Permanent Participants and from many of the States, we decided to put a special focus on Arctic wildland fires and youth engagement, which continue to be very important issues today. We had the Wildland Fires Initiative running throughout the Norwegian Chairship, and created the inaugural Chairship Youth Committee to provide a structure for youth engagement.
Looking back, yes, there was a lot of diplomatic navigation in terms of getting the Working Groups up and running. And that took maybe most of my time. But everybody pulled together to see how we could advance on important issues. To consider, what can we do to raise the flag of the Arctic Council? But not because the Council in itself is important, but because the cooperation is important. The dialog is important.
I'm proud that we were able to do these things in parallel. And we were not paralyzed by inaction, and only in the survival mode. We, to some extent, were still able to set the agenda for the issues we are faced with in the Arctic.
Morten Høglund: Well, we touched upon the Working Groups having the opportunity to open up. But I would go back to the autumn of 2023, when the Chairship met in person with the Permanent Participants. We had Indigenous representatives from all over the circumpolar Arctic sitting again in the same room. Having those discussions, which we always been proud of in the Arctic Council and, that could happen in even at that time, gave me optimism and it gave us strength.
Up until that time – we were ambitious, we were optimistic– but there was some kind of uncertainty. Is it possible? Are there too many obstacles that, even with all the best ambitions in the world, it can still not be done? And I’m not saying that we agreed on everything because that's not, and has never been, what is the most important. The important thing that we meet, discuss, and we move forward.
So I will say that was the pivotal moment, and when I knew that, yes, the Arctic Council will continue. And there is strong interest in keeping it relevant.
Morten Høglund: I do hope that we can in the not the too distant future go back to meeting at the diplomatic level, discussing issues of strategic importance for the people of the Arctic.
There is so much happening, so many changes, and the Arctic Council is well placed to be at the front of these discussions. We under the Arctic Council umbrella provide knowledge which is of global importance, which feeds into the global knowledge on what's happening in the Arctic. The Arctic countries have been at the forefront of leading these discussion. And that's the way it should be.