Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06COPENHAGEN705
2006-05-18 11:42:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Copenhagen
Cable title:  

GREENLAND: AMB'S VISIT REINFORCES STRONGER TIES

Tags:  PREL PGOV PBTS SENV DA GL 
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DE RUEHCP #0705/01 1381142
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181142Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2373
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/821ABG THULE AB GL//CC// PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUDKSR/EUCOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RUPEAAS/21SPW PETERSON AFB CO PRIORITY
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

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

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Three Towns, Five Days
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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.

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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.

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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.
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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