The foreign minister, Kristian Jensen, was among the key-note speakers at the massive Arctic conference at Aarhus University this week.
The conference, ‘Match Points Seminar – Security and Governance in the Globalised Arctic: Nordic and International Perspectives’, is being heralded as the most important Nordic foreign policy conference of the past decade.
A number of high-profile politicians, researchers, journalists and diplomats from a host of nations took part in the conference, which took a hard look at the political, environmental and financial challenges the Arctic region is facing.
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Low-tension co-operation
Jensen emphasised the importance for increased co-operation in the region for a more long standing and sustainable development.
“It is beyond doubt that if the Arctic is to develop its full potential, it must remain a low-tension region. And we must act globally on climate change,” Jensen said in his speech.
“The best way to ensure that is to continuously develop and strengthen international co-operative measures that address the real and concrete challenges facing all countries and peoples in the region. In the Arctic we need to use the soft instruments to solve the hard issues.”
Jensen stressed that it was essential that the ongoing military build-up in the region takes shape in correlation with broader agreements among the Arctic states and in a peaceful manner within the guidelines of international law.
The conference started yesterday and is scheduled to conclude sometime today.
