Canadian Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly, has stressed the need for NATO member states to cooperate closely in the Arctic.
Joly spoke after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, on Wednesday, the Department of State said.
The Department of State also said that the meeting was to discuss how the U.S. and Canada could collaborate on shared global challenges, citing rising tension in the Arctic region.
”For a long time the Arctic was seen as ‘High North, Low Tension.’
”But, at this point, we know that things have changed, geopolitics have shifted, and therefore we need closer cooperation among NATO allies in the Arctic.
”I think that is very different from what Canada’s position used to be, which was ultimately not to talk about NATO or not to talk about other types of partnerships in the Arctic,” Joly said.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry Legal Department Head, Maxim Musikhin, had told RIA Novosti last spring, those contacts within the Arctic Five; Russia, Denmark, Canada, Norway and the U.S. had been suspended.
He said that the initiative was not Russia’s.(NAN)
