Rapporten kan også rekvireres ved henvendelse til Udenrigskontoret, seniorrådgiver Marianne Lykke Thomsen, e-mail: MLT@gh.gl
Pressemeddelelse
Landsstyreformand Jonathan Motzfeldt er glad for at kunne præsentere rapporten Tip of the Iceberg, som nu bliver tilgængelig på Grønlands Hjemmestyres hjemmeside,
Vi har fundet det værdifuldt at etablere et overblik over vores udstrakte historiske og nutidige relationer til Canada som en støtte til fremtidige aktiviteter og samarbejde. Tip of the Iceberg er det første forsøg på skabe overblik over de mange relationer som har udviklet sig mellem vore to lande igennem mange år. Tip of the Iceberg ikke er en komplet redegørelse for forholdet mellem Grønland og Canada. Som det vil fremgå, indikerer Tip of the Iceberg netop, at der findes endnu flere forskellige forbindelser end det har været muligt at redegøre for i denne ugave.
Tip of the Icebergillustrerer, at der igennem årene er udviklet mange bånd mellem Canada og Grønland som involverer både statslige og ikke statslige organisationer, erhvervsfolk og private borgere. Vores fællesskab med Canada er ikke blot stærkt forankret historisk og kulturelt, men er i de seneste år blevet yderligere forstærket af vores samarbejde om at fremme af bæredygtig udvikling i Arktis.
Grønland og Danmark hilste Canadas udenrigspolitik for de nordlige områder - Northern Dimension in Canada"s Foreign Policy - velkommen som en ideel platform til at videreudvikle de mange initiativer indenfor Arktisk Råd, Det Arktiske Vindue i EU"s Nordlige Dimension og i Nordisk Råds Samarbejdsprogram for Arktisk Samarbejde.
Grønlands Hjemmestyre går stærkt ind for de arktiske folks deltagelse i internationalt samarbejde. Vi må styrke den økonomiske og sociale udvikling i Arktis ved at fremme handel og infrastrukturudvikling samt bæredygtig udvikling af vore ressourcer. I denne proces er uddannelsesmæssige og kulturelle udvekslinger vigtige led i kapacitetsopbygningen af vores samfund, særligt blandt vore unge. Et stærkt samarbejde med Canada er et vigtigt supplement til Grønlands bånd til Danmark, de nordiske lande og EU.
Vi opfordrer læserne til at fremkomme med deres kommentarer og yderligere information vedr. forholdet mellem Canada og Grønland og medvirke til at gøre Tip of the Iceberg til et værdifuldt redskab med hensyn til at prioritere og sætte mål for samarbejdet. Til det brug er Tip of the Iceberg, som blev annonceret i Udenrigspolitisk Redegørelse i 2001, placeret på Hjemmestyrets hjemmeside: . Kommentarer kan fremsendes til Udenrigskontoret eller til e-mail adressen . Rapporten er skrevet på engelsk for også at være tilgængelig for engelsksprogede læsere.
Press Release
Premier Jonathan Motzfeldt of Greenland is pleased to present the report Tip of the Iceberg, which is now being released and posted on the Greenland Home Rule Government website, www.nanoq.gl
We have found it valuable to establish an overview of our extensive historic and present relations with Canada to support future activities and cooperation. Tip of the Iceberg is the first attempt to provide an outline of the wide-ranging interaction that has developed over many years between our two countries. Tip of the Iceberg is not a complete account of the relationship between Greenland and Canada. As it will appear, Tip of the Iceberg is indicative of an even greater diversity of links than it has been possible to include in the present version.
Tip of the Iceberg illustrates that a great variety of ties between Canada and Greenland have developed over several years involving both government and non-government institutions, businesses and private citizens. Our relationship with Canada is not only strongly entrenched in our history and culture; in recent years, our close relationship has grown even stronger on the basis of our joint efforts in promoting sustainable development in the Arctic.
Greenland and Denmark welcomed the Canadian Government"s "Northern Dimension in Canadas Foreign Policy" as an ideal platform to further the potential linkages between the many initiatives that have been launched within the framework of the Arctic Council, the Arctic Window in EU"s Northern Dimension, and the Nordic Council"s Program on Arctic Cooperation.
The Greenland Home Rule Government strongly believes in Arctic peoples" participation in international cooperation. We must strengthen the economic and social development in the Arctic by promoting trade and infrastructural development and sustainable use of our resources. In this process, educational and cultural exchanges are important means of building capacity in our societies, in particular among our youth. A strong relationship with Canada provides a great supplement to Greenland¿s existing ties with Denmark, the Nordic countries and the EU.
We encourage readers to provide comments and additional information to document the bonds between Canada and Greenland, and to make Tip of the Iceberg a valuable reference in our priority setting and definition of targets for cooperative action. For that purpose Tip of the Iceberg, which was announced in the Foreign Affairs Report to the Greenland Parliament in 2001, is being made available on the official website, . Comments may be mailed to the Foreign Affairs Office or to the e-mail address: mlt@gh.gl. The report is written in English to also address an English-speaking audience.
Background paper to the media:
Visions
As suggested by its title, Tip of the Iceberg does not claim to be a complete account of every aspect of the relationship between Greenland and Canada. Rather, the accessible information resources used to compile Tip of the Iceberg are indicative of an even greater diversity of links, which further examination will most likely expose. What Tip of the Iceberg portrays is the overall extent of interaction that has developed for several years and how the relationship continues to expand involving an array of players and interests.
The Greenland-Canada relationship is multidimensional in the sense that it involves many layers in society: governments, non-government organizations, private and public institutions, businesses and private citizens. In addition, the relationship is comprehensive in geographical terms involving different regions in Arctic Canada as well as southern Canada and cooperation with federal Canada and the self-governing territories in international forums.
In a Greenland perspective, the intensified orientation towards the North American continent is based on a vision of growing economic and political diversity. Thus, to promote a sustainable economy less dependent on a single industry sector and to reduce dependency on Denmark, broader international cooperation has become an important focus of the political system and Greenland business. The size of the economy and the dependence on international trade and cooperation, make a range of factors very tangible elements in this vision of internationalization:
Greenland"s dependency on international markets for its main export products, fish and shellfish,
Cooperation on management of joint populations of living resources,
Foreign investments and know-how to develop the mineral and oil sectors,
Greenland"s dependence on imported industrial goods and food products,
Development of tourism and new land-based industries outside the fishery sector,
Infrastructure technologies (telecommunication, transportation)
Cross-border environmental issues,
International education,
Increased awareness of historical and cultural ties with Inuit peoples across the Arctic,
Etc.
In other words, this vision implies that engagement in more international cooperation and trading relationships will lead to new opportunities that will strengthen and sustain Greenland"s economic and social development.
However, the vision also embraces another component that goes beyond these immediate challenges of internationalization. It is the notion of Greenland taking part in the globalization process and assuming an increasing national identity and profile in international forums. Eventually, this process will lead to the removal of barriers to free trade, free capital mobility and migration of labour. Globally, this development is driven by falling transportation and telecommunication costs and falling trade barriers. It is crucial for Greenland to positioning itself as an active partner during the formulation of the policies that lead to this scenario.
By actively taking part and seeking authority in relevant processes of international cooperation, Greenland is investing significant political and economic resources to become a visible and respected partner. In this respect, a constructive bilateral relationship with Canada within the framework of the Greenland-Denmark relationship will provide Greenland with important additional leverage as an alternative westward entrance into world community - not replacing but supplementing Greenland"s traditional orientation towards Denmark and EU.
Important benefits of using this gateway are increased familiarity with the North American political and business culture, society, language and - not least - stronger partnerships with Canadian Inuit. But to mention the English language, compelling statistics forecast that by 2050, about half the world will master English at a level rendering this language the supreme tongue of globalization - driven by international business, politics and diplomacy. Closer ties with Canada will encourage more Greenlanders to travel, study and trade in Canada and vice versa. This way English will become an obvious supplement to Danish, which, today, is still required to succeed in the existing education system that includes free access for Greenland students to educational institutions in Denmark. As an example, Iceland has achieved great success in pursuing a strategy of orientation both towards Europe and North America.
As illustrated in Tip of the Iceberg, the vision of a stronger relationship with Canada is entrenched in a diversity of policies, agreements, organizations, trade, and a variety of forums that contain great potential to genuinely promote further cooperation on issues of mutual interest. It is further encouraging that these aspirations rest upon important sharing of core values and ideals among Greenland/Denmark and Canada - a platform that has often proven highly productive and progressive when the parties cooperate in a variety of contexts.
In many respects, there are ideal linkages between Greenland"s images of more extensive relations with Canada and Canada¿s vision of development in its northern communities ¿ linkages that potentially provide significant leverage to the actual implementation of a range of initiatives. While, these linkages include high-level policy frameworks and organizational structures (cf. outline in section III and IV) the great challenge to all parties involved is to continuously develop clear priorities and set operational objectives that crystallize into measurable progress through the assignment of necessary resources and constant political leverage.
For instance, the conference originally planned to be held in Greenland in 2001 was called "Building Bridges in the North" to illustrate its potential linkages with the many regional and international initiatives of relevance to all parties involved: the Arctic Council, EU"s Northern Dimension and the Arctic Window therein, the Nordic Council"s Program on Arctic Cooperation, and now also the Northern Dimension of Canada"s Foreign Policy.
NDFP provides great potential for further cooperation through increased bilateral inclusion of Canada"s Northern regions and Greenland to bring attention to issues of common interest and concern across the shared Arctic border. One way to make this happen would be to bring together politicians, business people, experts and representatives from the regions in more formalized and recurrent forums to discuss ways and means of better connecting east and west to supplement the existing south to north systems of trade, transportation and communication.
This would first of all acknowledge the fact that one of the greatest challenges to further sustainable economic and social development in the Arctic continues to be anchored in east-west facilitation of exchange of goods and services, people, knowledge, information, experience, etc. Second, international experience from regional development initiatives suggests that leverage in such processes are significantly improved when they involve and commit both businesses and local communities to supplement existing political frameworks.
Assuming a core position in the bilateral cooperation between Canada and Greenland/Denmark, such a triangular approach would likely ad new synergy and impetus to the existing political process. A proposal that has tentatively been suggested is the idea to establish a senior officials contact-group as an advisory to the political institutions, with participation of business people and local communities.