The main item on the agenda is the USA’s forthcoming chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The USA will assume its two-year chairmanship at the Arctic Council’s Ministerial Meeting in Canada on 24th April 2015.

“It’s extremely important to have a good dialogue with the country that chairs Arctic cooperation at a government level at any given time. I am very much looking forward to a presentation of the programme for the chairmanship and to finding out which issues the USA is intending to prioritize. The High North and the Arctic are Norway’s most important foreign policy areas. When a major power like the USA takes over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council it has great bearing on us as a nation,” points out Mr Sivertsen.

Another primary objective of the meeting is to engage more members of Congress in Arctic cooperation. What is happening in the Arctic is important for the USA as a whole, not just Alaska. Senator Angus King from Maine will be one of the first speakers at the meeting, and an Arctic group for members of the Senate will be set up in connection with the meeting.

“Sea ice loss in the Arctic has a huge impact on the climate in the entire USA. An increase in extreme weather has been noticeable in large parts of the country. New sailing routes through the Arctic will have a major effect on world trade and will place greater demands on emergency preparedness and presence. We are hoping to use the meeting as an opportunity to raise political awareness in Congress about Arctic matters,” underlined Mr Sivertsen.

Eirik Sivertsen was elected Chair of the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region for the coming two years at the 11th Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region in September 2014. The meeting in Washington will be attended by parliamentarians from the eight Arctic countries and the European Parliament.