The Arctic Council agreed yesterday to admit emerging powers China and India as observers to its deliberations on Arctic policy.
The council, which groups the United States, Russia, Canada and Nordic nations, will give observers the right to listen in on meetings and propose and finance policies.
The organisation, which coordinates Arctic policy, is gaining a higher profile as sea ice thaws to open up new trade routes and competition intensifies for oil and gas exploration.
China has already been active in the polar region, becoming one of the biggest mining investors in Greenland and agreeing a free trade deal with Iceland.
John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, told the meeting in Sweden’s northern town of Kiruna: “Despite the varied interests we have heard today from the permanent participants, there is nothing that should unite us quite like our concern for both the promise and challenges of the northernmost reaches of the Earth.”
Canada, which will chair the council for the next two years, said the time had come to realise the “tremendous potential and opportunities” in the Arctic, which has rich reserves of gold, tin, lead, nickel and copper.
“This development must be done in a responsible and an environmentally sustainable manner so that the land, the water and the animals … are not negatively impacted,” Canadian Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq told reporters by phone from Kiruna.
Indigenous groups have expressed concern the number of observers could dilute their voice as their traditional cultures are threatened by a possible influx of oil and mining projects.
A Chinese shipping firm is planning the country’s first commercial voyage through a shortcut across the Arctic Ocean to the United States and Europe in 2013, saving time and money. The distance from Shanghai to Hamburg is 2,800 nautical miles (5,185 kms) shorter via the Arctic than via the Suez Canal.
The council ruled the Europe Union could observe meetings until a final decision on its status was taken, which has been complicated by the EU’s ban on imported seal products. Indigenous groups say they depend on the seal trade.
Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Italy were also granted observer status.
