Session approves new Arctic programme
Nordic Partnership for the Arctic, is the title of the new Nordic Council of Ministers’ Arctic Co-operation Programme 2018–2021, and partnership is an absolutely crucial dimension to solutions for the challenges and needs of the Arctic.
Partnership is one of the defining characteristics of the new programme. The fact that we work so closely together with each other is one of the distinguishing features of the Nordic countries. Working together makes us stronger. By working together, we arrive at better solutions. And the same should apply to the Arctic. It is with this in mind that added weight has been put behind the partnership dimension in the new programme.
In 2015, the Nordic countries signed up for the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable development Goals (SDGs). The Nordic Region wants to go the extra mile to implement the SDGs and this is reflected in Nordic Partnership for the Arctic. SDG 17 on partnerships to achieve the goals is also crucial to the work of the Nordic Council of Ministers with, in and for the Arctic.
Nordic Partnership for the Arctic prioritises four Ps:
- • Peoples
- • Planet
- • Prosperity
- • Partnerships.
The new programme is the eighth in the series. Since 1996, the Council of Ministers has spent approximately DKK 137 million on initiatives in and for the Arctic. The new programme earmarks a further approximately DKK 9 million p.a. to the Arctic, adding approximately DKK 36 million to the total. The spending level bears testimony to the ongoing and systematic work done by the Nordic Region to assist and develop the Arctic in the desired direction. Nordic Partnership for the Arctic enters into force on 1 January 2018.
