GREENLAND: AMB'S VISIT REINFORCES STRONGER TIES

UNCLAS COPENHAGEN 000705 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PBTS SENV DA GL SUBJECT: GREENLAND: AMB'S VISIT REINFORCES STRONGER TIES ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Ambassador Cain's recent five-day visit to Greenland confirmed that U.S. relations with this strategic, semi-autonomous territory are stronger than ever and no longer the bilateral irritant they once were with the Danish government. Greenland Home Rule officials uniformly expressed satisfaction with ongoing work to broaden economic, scientific and cultural ties through the Joint Committee. While concerned about the potential fiscal impact of budget cuts at Thule Air Base, Home Rule officials appreciated the USG's early communication and transparency on this issue. ¶2. (SBU) The Home Rule government is eager to strengthen its ties with the USG and appears ready to welcome U.S. investment in its potential oil, mineral, and hydropower resources. Despite considerable public skepticism, Greenland's political leadership continues to dream of further autonomy, and even independence. In that vein, Greenland's political class perceives stronger U.S. ties as vital to diminishing the world's largest island's overwhelming dependence on Denmark. While Greenland leaders' dreams of independence are still economically implausible, the trend of increased autonomy, including greater influence on Danish decision-making on policies affecting Greenland, is likely to continue. In an area that is a focal point of climate change research, the Ambassador vigorously defended U.S. efforts on global warming. End Summary -------------- Three Towns, Five Days -------------- ¶3. (U) Ambassador Cain visited Nuuk, Ilulissat, and Kangerlussuaq May 8-12 to advance Joint Committee efforts to broaden U.S. relations with Greenland and to strengthen public support for America's base presence at Thule. In Nuuk, the Ambassador met with senior political leaders, including Premier Hans Enoksen and Deputy Premier Josef Motzfeldt. The Ambassador also spoke separately to university students and the Nuuk Rotary Club and gave interviews to the local media. Home Rule Permanent Secretary Kaj Kleist joined the Ambassador in his visit to Ilulissat, where the Ambassador met with municipal leaders and advanced ongoing efforts to conclude a sister park relationship between the Ilulissat World Heritage Park area and the Cape Krusenstern National Monument in Alaska. In Kangarlussuaq, the Ambassador met with members of the New York 109th Air National Guard and Veco Polar Resources for briefings on their operations in support of U.S.-funded scientific research on the Greenland ice cap. Ambassador Cain was accompanied by polmiloff. -------------- Thule: Watchful Understanding of Budget Cuts -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Senior Greenland Home Rule leaders all expressed concern about the potential economic impact of Thule budget cuts. At the same time, they expressed appreciation that the USG has been open and transparent as it considers potential cost savings. Noting that Thule is "a vital part of the Greenland economy," Premier Hans Enoksen said that he hoped the Defense Department would be mindful of the effect of budget savings on Greenlanders at the base. Deputy Premier Motzfeldt said that tax revenues from the base, which he estimated to be DKK 60-70 million a year, are an important part of Home Rule fiscal planning. In follow-on conversations, Acting Director of Foreign Affairs Inuuteq Holm Olsen said he was satisfied with the USG's update on this issue provided at the most recent Greenland Permanent Committee meeting in Washington. ¶5. (SBU) While cautioning that the USG needs to cut costs at many bases around the world, including Thule, Ambassador Cain stressed that Thule remains strategically relevant with special base maintenance needs due to its remote location. He also urged Home Rule officials to view the relationship with the United States more broadly and to keep in mind the potential benefits of our increased cooperation through the Joint Committee. An increase in trade, private commercial investment, and tourism between the United States and Greenland, he noted, could help offset lost tax revenues due to adjustments of the base maintenance contract at Thule. The Ambassador underscored these same points in his comments to the media and drew a sharp distinction between potential cuts at Thule and the Keflavik decision. Joint Committee Paying Dividends -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Home Rule officials uniformly lauded the Joint Committee process for expanding and broadening relations between the United States and Greenland and pledged to work closely with their American and Danish counterparts to produce concrete "deliverables". Deputy Premier Motzfeldt said he is pleased that Greenland is now "on the map" in Washington. He expressed particular interest in attracting U.S. private investment and in concluding a reciprocal taxation agreement. (Greenland has such agreements with Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.) Kaj Kleist, head of the Home Rule's Joint Committee delegation, expressed confidence that the May 30-31 Copenhagen meeting would be a success. ¶7. (SBU) Air Greenland CEO Flemming Knudsen said planning continues to open a seasonal summer air route between BWI Airport and Kangarlussuaq starting in May 2007. Numerous political and business leaders expressed hope that the first commercial air route between the U.S. and Greenland would foster increased trade and tourism. Minister of Fisheries and Hunting Finn Karlsen reiterated Greenland's interest in exporting musk ox and reindeer to the U.S. He also said Greenland is interested in finding U.S. markets for Greenland shrimp ("Greenland gold"). The Ilulissat museum director agreed to try to launch a sister park relationship with Cape Krusenstern National Monument in Alaska as soon as possible. -------------- Climate Change -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Both Premier Enoksen and Deputy Premier Motzfeldt discussed global warming with the Ambassador. In addition, university students asked a number of questions related to the USG's environmental policies. In the Ambassador's meetings, press interviews, and speaking engagements, Amb. Cain reviewed ongoing U.S. efforts to address climate change stressing the USG's intensive research program, commitment to alternate energy, and dedication to developing new, green technologies. He made these same points in Ilulissat, one of the most prominent sites for climate change research where one of the world's fastest moving glaciers continues to recede. -------------- The Next Micro-State? -------------- ¶9. (SBU) While conceding their continued dependence on grant aid from Denmark and without a fixed timetable in mind, senior Greenland leaders nevertheless almost uniformly volunteered interest in securing more autonomy, if not independence, from Denmark. Senior Greenland officials now openly and routinely refer to Greenland as a "country." Greenland Minister of Mineral Resources Jorgen Waever Johannsen told the Ambassador that Greenland, with only 56,000 inhabitants, is "just one big oil strike" away from being able to support itself economically. Johannsen said China is expressing increasing interest in Greenland's potential energy resources. At the same time, the Home Rule government is considerin consolidating its 18 municipalities into four cunties in order to accrue significant much-needed public spending savings. Greenlandic nationalism s woven into educational and cultural programmin. ¶10. (SBU) While Greenland's political elites ppear determined to secure more autonomy, the poulation may not be as enthusiastic. The Danish government's senior representative in the Greenland capital, High Commissioner Soren Hald Moeller, told the Ambassador that he believed young people were more interested in having the Home Rule government tackle Greenland's significant social problems than in pursuing independence. The 10,000 resident Danes working in Greenland tend to be even more skeptical. In blunt remarks before the Ambassador's speech, one ethnic Dane Rotarian compared Greenland's political elites to "irresponsible teenagers" who would return Greenland to the "days of peat houses and tuberculosis." Even the most ardent nationalists in Greenland concede that there is no public appetite for achieving independence at the cost of eliminating the generous Danish subsidy that underwrites the island's economic viability. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶11. (SBU) In a few years time, a joint Denmark-Greenland commission is slated to recommend changes to the 1979 Home Rule Act. As a result of this ongoing process, Greenland is likely to assume new police and judiciary powers as well as a bigger share of the rights to its subsoil resources. The informal devolution of bargaining power on foreign and security matters involving Greenland that was apparent during the Thule radar negotiations is likely to be made even more formal. Greenland already has its own representative at the Danish Embassy in Brussels to negotiate fishing agreements with the EU (Greenland is not part of the EU),and it may one day send a representative to the Danish Embassy in Washington or Danish Consulate in New York City. ¶12. (SBU) Nevertheless, so long as Greenland depends on generous Danish grant aid, it is unlikely Greenland will achieve full independence. Greenland's most determined nationalists are ironically some of the biggest enthusiasts of developing the island's oil, gas, and hydropower potential. At the same time, should Greenland ever strike oil and achieve independence, the United States would have as the host nation for Thule a country inclined to be sympathetic to NAM positions rather than one of our staunchest NATO allies. Continued attention to the Joint Committee process is a low-cost, high-impact investment that should continue to pay short term dividends. It may also prove essential in the longterm to protect USG strategic interests on an easily overlooked North American neighbor. CAIN