NORWAY PLEASED WITH ARCTIC POLICY BRIEFING

C O N F I D E N T I A L OSLO 000010 SIPDIS COPENHAGEN FOR EST OFFICE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/07/2019 TAGS: ECON WEWWT KGCC PBTS PHSA PREL SENV SUBJECT: NORWAY PLEASED WITH ARCTIC POLICY BRIEFING REF: STATE 816 Classified By: P/E Counselor Kristen Bauer for reasons 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (C) In a January 7 meeting with MFA North American Coordinator Morten Aasland, High North Coordinator Jostein Mickleton, and officers from the Arctic Council and High North sections, P/E Counselor delivered reftel points. The MFA officials were pleased to receive the information, and also very much appreciated the earlier briefing by U/S Dobriansky in Washington. They look forward to more detailed discussions on the policy in the Arctic Council and elsewhere once it is released. Of particular interest for future discussions: --Law of Sea: They welcomed the strong support for U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea and wondered how the new Senate line-up would affect the likelihood of approval. --Arctic Council: They are interested in better understanding the role the U.S. sees for the Arctic Council, noting the stress on the Council's mandate and suggesting the Council could be seen currently to be to some extent to be a policymaking body. They also were interested in the USG reaction to an increasingly permanent Council secretariat. --Icebreaking: They are concerned about icebreaking capacity and would like to know how the U.S. might be thinking of increasing its capacity and whether the U.S would be interested in joining a consortium to provide additional capacity. --NATO/Security: While they welcome a greater NATO focus on the Arctic, they were unclear on how best to achieve this. WHITNEY