Brussels, 28/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - European Environment and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella will travel to Alaska for the conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience (GLACIER) in Anchorage from 30 August to 1 September.
The strategic importance of the Arctic region as the Arctic Ocean becomes increasingly ice-free and accessible will be central to the ministerial conference organised by the US State Department. John Kerry will host the event and President Obama is due to make an appearance. A number of foreign ministers are expected to attend. Speaking on behalf of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, Vella will restate the EU's commitment to ensuring the Arctic region's sustainable development while safeguarding its fragile environment.
Climate change, fisheries and international cooperation. The Arctic region, with its wealth of minerals, oil, gas and fish, is being carefully eyed by the major powers looking to exploit its natural resources but is also cruelly exposed to climate change. The conference will provide an important opportunity to highlight the effects of climate change in the Arctic and demonstrate the profound implications of these for the rest of the world. It will serve as an important and useful forum to undertake climate diplomacy outreach at the highest political level in advance of the Paris COP 21 (30 November-11 December) at which it is hoped a global climate agreement for the period after 2020 will be reached.
For the EU, it will be an opportunity to outline its key priorities for the Arctic region in the context of the ongoing further development of the EU's Arctic policy (see EUROPE 11077), one of the priorities of which is the indigenous population. A separate meeting with local communities is planned, therefore, on the sidelines of the Anchorage conference.
The United States currently chairs the Arctic Council (2015-2017) in which the EU has observer status (see EUROPE 10846). (Aminata Niang)