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Issues in Focus

Partnership with Greenland

In recent years, the United States forged a new partnership with Greenland. In 2003, the United States returned the Dundas area from Thule Air Base in northwestern Greenland. On August 6, 2004, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller and Home Rule Deputy Premier Josef Motzfeldt signed in Igaliku, Greenland an update to the 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement and two political declarations that facilitate cooperation between the United States and Greenland. These agreements helped elict permission to upgrade the Thule radar for missile defense purposes. 

Since 2004, the United States, Denmark, and Greenland have been working through the Joint Committee to work on concrete, joint projects and programs on the environment, science, health, and technology, trade and tourism, and eduation and culture. The Joint Committee charged with fostering such cooperation has met three times: in Nuuk in October 2004, in Washington in May 2005, and most recently in Copenhagen in May 2006. In its first two years, the Joint Committee has already achieved significant results and has succeeded in broadening and enhancing the relationship between the United States and Greenland.

Igaliku Agreements

  • Press Release, Enhancing Cooperation Between the United States and Greenland >> (press release)

  • Agreement to amend and supplement the 1951 Agreement on the Defense of Greenland to sites on Missile Defense, August 6, 2004 >>(complete text)

  • Joint Declaration by The Government of the United States of America and The Government of the Kingdom of Denmark, including the Home Rule Government of Greenland, on Economic and Technical Cooperation >>(complete text)

  • Joint Declaration by The Government of the United States of America and The Government of the Kingdom of Denmark, including the Home Rule Government of Greenland, on Cooperation on the Environment in Greenland >> (complete text)

 

Joint Committee

  • Partnership Between the United States and Greenland and Denmark, May 2006 >> (fact sheet)

  • The New Partnership Between the United States and Greenland and Denmark, May 2005 >>(fact sheet)

  • Joint Statement by the Joint Committee, October 2004 >> (statement)


Dundas

Missile Defense

Missile Defense - Related Facilities

Government Sites on Missile Defense