5TH ANNUAL U.S.-DENMARK-GREENLAND JOINT COMMITTEE

UNCLAS STATE 066324 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL SENV ENRG ETRD SCUL DA SUBJECT: 5TH ANNUAL U.S.-DENMARK-GREENLAND JOINT COMMITTEE MEETING, WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 7 ¶1. Summary. The fifth annual Denmark-United States-Greenland Joint Committee Meeting held May 7 in Washington successfully advanced mutual cooperation on issues ranging from environment, science and technology to trade, tourism and education. Highlights included a presentation by U.S. Geological Survey of oil and gas resource potential in Greenland and agreement on atmospheric and ice mass monitoring and data sharing. The next Joint Committee meeting will take place in Copenhagen in 2009. End summary. ¶2. Danish and Greenlandic Home Rule Government officials met with USG representatives from Commerce, Defense, State, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the New York Air National Guard for the fifth annual Joint Committee Meeting in Washington on May 7. The USGS presented preliminary findings indicating the potential for enormous oil and gas reserves on the East Greenland Shelf and Alcoa representatives briefed on progress to construct a multi-billion dollar aluminum smelter and co-located electricity generation facility. ¶3. The Environment, Science, Technology and Health Working Group recognized that changes in the Greenland ice sheet could entail major consequences worldwide. Working group participants discussed a range of activities that could lead to an improved understanding of these changes, how they might progress over time, and how research addressing ice sheet changes could be better linked to meeting the needs of local residents. In this context the group discussed plans to: - Link studies focused on long-term climate change to those focused on improved short-term weather forecasting; - Connect ground-based measurements of surface elevation to satellite measurements to improve knowledge of ice sheet losses; - Cooperate in the study of permafrost warming in Greenland and Alaska; - Cooperate to provide logistics support for scientific research in Greenland; - Cooperate with the new Center for Climate Research at Nuuk, Greenland; - Cooperate to monitor deep water formation in the Labrador Sea and surface water mixing in the ocean off Greenland; and - Offer a week-long opportunity for select Greenlandic, Danish and U.S. students and teachers to visit Greenland and to conduct research at NSF's Greenland Summit research station. The United States, Denmark and Greenland reached agreement to link U.S., Danish and Greenlandic atmospheric and ice mass monitoring data generated by a variety of national technical agencies. In addition to creating new opportunities for scientific data exchange, the agreement should also offer Greenland the concrete benefit of access to better weather data. ¶4. The Trade and Tourism Working Group advanced existing and new ideas for cooperation. The Department of Commerce put Greenland representatives in contact with USDA and FDA officials to help Greenland create an online brochure detailing U.S. import requirements for food products. The initiative is intended to facilitate Greenlandic exports of reindeer, musk ox and lamb to the United States. With the goal of improving competitiveness in the Greenlandic workforce, plans were also discussed to bring Greenlandic students and teachers to the United States to advance Greenlandic capacities in vocational education, e-learning, educating students with special needs and health education. A &Cruise Greenland8 workshop and seminar on investment opportunities in Greenland was organized the day following the JC meeting and attracted a wide audience, creating new business leads for Greenlandic companies. ¶5. The Education and Culture Working Group reached agreement on exploring additional opportunities to create study tours in 2008 for Greenlandic educational institutions. The tours will be designed to identify and create new contacts with U.S. counterparts in education. The group also discussed how Greenlandic students might make better use of existing bilateral exchange programs between Danish and U.S. universities and determined to seek additional opportunities to increase the number of Greenlanders participating in U.S. Government-sponsored International and Voluntary Visitors Programs, subject to available U.S. and Greenlandic Funding. ¶6. Next year,s JC meeting will take place in Copenhagen. RICE