Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, landed on Danish soil shortly after noon. 22 last night, marking the first time that anyone from US President Joe Biden’s cabinet has visited the country.
He has spent the night at the Marriott Hotel in Copenhagen and is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen this morning at 09:00. Arctic cooperation will be high on the agenda.
A busy schedule awaits him afterwards, as a meeting with Queen Margrethe II quickly follows at Amalienborg at 11:00.
Meeting with the Foreign Ministers
But perhaps the big meeting on this occasion is that of Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, who will be joined by Jenis Av Rana and Pele Broberg, his colleagues from the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
All three met yesterday at a meeting with the Nordic foreign ministers, so they will probably sing from the same hymn sheet in some way.
“When Blinken arrives tomorrow, it will be important for the United States to know the priorities we have in our Arctic cooperation – also before the Arctic Council meeting in Iceland,” said Kofod.
Greenland will make its mark
However, Broberg, who represents an independence party that just won the Greenlandic parliamentary election, may have a lot to say.
“We must start a process of concluding trade agreements between Greenland and the United States,” Broberg told the Greenlandic media outlet KNR about the meeting, while the Faroe Islands are also optimistic, as they have just secured an agreement that more American shipping will visit its shores. .
“The most important message for me to get through is that Antony Blinken must understand that we are Greenland. We are different from many other countries. We have a demand for independence. We are not Denmark and the Faroe Islands – we are Greenland. ”
Kofod has already said that he respects his views: “I respect that Pele Broberg and other politicians have views on independence – that’s how it is in politics.”
We move on to Iceland
Kofod then gets extra time to talk to Blinken. Topics for discussion will include, it is reported, climate, security cooperation and the protection of democratic rights.
Blinken will fly to Iceland later on Monday, where he will meet Iceland’s Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson, attend a ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council and visit Keflavik Air Base, a US military base built outside Reykjavik after World War II.
Kofod will then accompany him to Greenland to meet his new prime minister, Múte B Egede, and again Broberg.
Source: The Nordic Page