The US State Department on Tuesday denied that it had prevented the Arctic Council from signing a joint declaration after a meeting of the intergovernmental body ended with the release a short statement that did not include the phrase
Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini, the chair of the Arctic Council, said in a press conference following the ministerial in Rovaniemi, Finland, that « the declaration in a traditional way wasn’t possible this time. »
He declined to blame the United States for the lack of consensus, saying, « I don’t name and blame anybody, » but noted that « it is clear that the climate issues are different from the different viewpoints and from the different capitals. »
« It is clear that those climate issues cannot be solved in this particular meeting, » Soini said.
The statement signed by the foreign ministers of the eight member states — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States — was only one page long and devoid of any mention of climate change. It focused on continued cooperation in the region and said that the council reaffirmed « its commitment to the well-being of the inhabitants of the Arctic, to sustainable development, and to the protection of the Arctic environment. »
A senior State Department official said that « it’s not accurate to say that the US wouldn’t support a joint declaration. »
« There were several different versions of the Declaration going around.
