Nordic ministers will discuss granting Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Aland equal status in a historic update to the 1962 Helsinki Treaty.
COPENHAGEN: Nordic government ministers will meet in Denmark on Wednesday to discuss a historic overhaul of regional cooperation. The talks aim to elevate Greenland and two other autonomous territories to full and equal status within the Nordic forum.
This move follows former US President Donald Trump’s push to control the Arctic island of Greenland. Denmark and its allies firmly rejected Trump’s insistence that the Nordic country must hand over Greenland.
The meeting will focus on updating the 1962 Helsinki Treaty. The treaty was originally adopted by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway.
READ MORE: Trump’s desire to own Greenland persists, says Danish PM
The update would grant full rights to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, both Danish territories, and Finland’s Aland. These regions have long sought equal status but were excluded from meetings on security and issues like the war in Ukraine.
Greenland’s government boycotted the format in 2024 over this exclusion. “An update of the Helsinki Treaty will be a historic step and a future-proofing of Nordic co-operation,” Denmark’s minister for Nordic cooperation, Morten Dahlin, said.
Greenland has agreed to actively help create a commission to update the agreement. “The process surrounding the Helsinki Treaty will be decisive in determining whether Greenland can be recognised as an equal partner in Nordic cooperation,” the island’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said.
While many of Greenland’s 57,000 people hope for eventual independence from Denmark, economic reliance on Copenhagen is a major concern. There are also warnings against becoming overly exposed to the United States.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen recently stated that if forced to choose, Greenlanders would pick Denmark over the US. The diplomatic standoff with Washington launched talks last month between Copenhagen, Nuuk and the US.
