Putting More Effort Into The Work#

Although Iceland and Greenland have had the cooperation declaration since 2022, not much has happened during that period. The Icelandic Prime Minister, Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir, also acknowledges this.

You yourself said that not much has happened since the declaration was first signed. What exactly will this mean for the cooperation?

“I think the most important thing now is that we say that we want to put more effort into it. We are putting people in our foreign ministries in a working group to work a little more concretely with it,” says Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir.

What has prevented Iceland and Greenland from getting closer to each other despite great agreements?

“We are close to each other. Both in culture, schools and children. But when it comes to bigger things, like fishing and infrastructure and large projects, it’s just harder things to talk about, if I’m being honest,” says Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir. “We now know that it is important for us to work closer together, and it may not have been so important before.”

Jens-Frederik Nielsen agrees that the work has not worked smoothly before.

“It is no secret that there have been some problems with a large free trade agreement in the past. But we are politically ready to talk about it and see how we can solve it.”

No Military In Iceland#

The Greenlandic government and the Danish government recently presented a new major defence agreement with a focus on the Arctic and the North Atlantic from 2025-33. It includes several things for Greenland, such as a new military headquarters in Nuuk instead of renting premises and a drone module for Arctic Basic Training.

All in all, the military is becoming more visible in Greenland. But in Iceland, they have a completely different philosophy towards defence.

“We don’t have a military. We don’t want a military. But we know that we have to be a good ally in NATO,” says Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir. “I think Icelanders know that the world has changed. That doesn’t have to mean that our defence has to be different, but that we have to put a little more focus on who we work with. We are focused now on infrastructure, roads and ports.”

Jens-Frederik Nielsen: Every Friend Is Welcome#

The Chairman of the Greenlandic Parliament, Jens-Frederik Nielsen is very pleased that Iceland and Greenland are committed to close cooperation:

“Our predecessors have created a good framework for cooperation between the countries, so the foundation is in order, and with the declaration we have signed today, we have agreed to remove obstacles to good cooperation. For example, we do not share our common fishing resources and that has been a problem, the double taxation area has been a problem, and VAT relations have been a problem. These are some of the challenges that otherwise good intentions have stood in the way of closer cooperation, so we have agreed that both countries will sit down together to find solutions to the challenges.”

Greenlandic Prime Minister emphasises that even small steps can pave the way for good and constructive cooperation, and that one can easily start small and thereby find common denominators that can bind the countries’ cooperation closer together.

How important is it to cultivate the Iceland-Greenland cooperation?

“I believe that it is very important for Greenland that we reach out to cooperative relations that can help strengthen Greenlandic society, and Iceland is an obvious option and is easy to work with, since our predecessors have already established the basis for cooperation, as I said.”

But with regard to your common goal of standing together in relation to geopolitical developments, the countries are developing in opposite directions. The Prime Minister of Iceland emphasises that Iceland in no way wants to have a military, while here in Greenland, in cooperation with the Danish government, we are increasing our military presence. How should this be handled?

First of all, we are not responsible for the defence area here at home, but we are taking part in the development in this area. We have indicated that the world is changing, and as a consequence of this change, the requirements have also changed. In short, we have our own perspective on how the defence of Greenland should be developed and adapted in relation to the situation we are in, and we have made an agreement with the Danish government, which we are very satisfied with, also because we are sure that the development will bring many good things with it in this country, and we are happy about that.

“So if there are differences between Iceland and Greenland in the area of defence, then we have a difference, and here we must of course continue on our own terms,” concludes Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

Source: Sermitsiaq (in Danish)