The move comes as competition for the high north’s resources with Russia intensifies.
The United States will soon open a small diplomatic mission in Norway that will be the world’s northernmost and only such facility above the Arctic Circle, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced Thursday.
The move, which Blinken announced at a news conference in Oslo after attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, comes as competition for the high north’s resources with Russia intensifies.
Blinken said the US would open what is known as an “American Presence Post” in Tromsoe, which is 217 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The position will open later this year and will be filled by a single US diplomat with the title of “consul”.
“We are here to work with like-minded allies to advance our vision of a peaceful, stable and cooperative Arctic,” Blinken said before meeting with the foreign minister of Norway, whose country is set to take over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. which is based in Tromsø.
Norway will take over the group of eight nations bordering the Arctic after two years of Russian leadership during which the bloc was largely ignored by other members due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The State Department maintained an office in Tromsø until 1994, but it was closed due to a realignment of diplomatic facilities after the end of the Cold War.
“The United States is a proud Arctic state and takes seriously our role as one of the region’s stewards,” US Ambassador to Norway Marc Nathanson said in a statement.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said Norway and the US share a “long and proud history” of cooperation on Arctic issues.
“I welcome the US plans to establish a Presence Post in Tromsoe this year, which I am sure will further strengthen our close cooperation,” she said.
