European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Joe Borg will travel to Greenland tomorrow to participate in the Arctic conference hosted in Ilulissat by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Commissioner Borg will give a keynote speech at the meeting’s opening session, alongside the Presidency of the European Union, and Dr Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament. In his address, the Commissioner will discuss the place of the Arctic region in European policy, with reference to both the ‘Northern Dimension’ policy and the EU’s new integrated Maritime Policy. In this latter context, the Commission will be publishing a Communication on the Arctic later in 2008 which will examine issues ranging from climate change to governance. The aim of this communication is to assess how Europe can best contribute towards sustainable development of the region and the global economy while protecting the Arctic from environmental changes resulting from the increasing human activity that this development will entail. This Arctic Conference has been organised by the Swedish presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in order to raise awareness of the new challenges and opportunities facing the Arctic region as a result of changing environmental, economic and social conditions. Conference participants will include ministers, politicians, senior representatives from EU bodies and member states of the EU, the Arctic Council, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the partners of the Northern Dimension as well as experts on Arctic issues and representatives of indigenous peoples’ organisations and relevant NGOs.
