The USA will quickly open a small diplomatic mission in Norway that shall be its northernmost on this planet and solely such facility above the Arctic Circle, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken introduced Thursday.
The transfer, which Blinken introduced at a information convention in Oslo after attending a NATO international ministers assembly, comes as competitors over the excessive north’s assets with Russia intensifies.
Blinken stated the U.S. would open what is called an “American Presence Publish” in Tromsoe, which sits 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of the Arctic Circle. The submit will open later this yr and be staffed by a single U.S. diplomat with the title of “consul.”
“We’re right here to work with like-minded allies to advance our imaginative and prescient of a peaceable, secure and cooperative Arctic,” Blinken stated earlier than assembly Norway’s international minister whose nation is making ready to imagine the chairmanship of the Arctic Council, which is headquartered in Tromsoe.
Norway will take over the eight-nation grouping of nations that border the Arctic after two years of Russian management throughout which the bloc was largely ignored by different members as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The State Division had maintained an workplace in Tromsoe till 1994 but it surely was shuttered in a re-alignment of diplomatic amenities after the tip of the Chilly Warfare.
“The USA is a proud Arctic state and takes severely our position as one of many area’s stewards,” U.S. Ambassador to Norway Marc Nathanson stated in an announcement.
Norwegian Overseas Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stated Norway and the U.S. share a “lengthy and proud historical past” of collaboration on Arctic points.
“I welcome U.S. plans to ascertain a Presence Publish in Tromsoe this yr, which I’m positive will additional strengthen our shut cooperation,” she stated.
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