The United States, Denmark and Greenland have reached an agreement aimed at strengthening security in the strategically important Arctic territory, with Washington set to gain expanded and potentially permanent security responsibilities.
The agreement is expected to be signed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week. It still requires formal approval through parliamentary procedures in Denmark and Greenland.
The terms of the agreement have not been fully disclosed. The United States has said the arrangement would prevent rival countries from establishing military bases, deploying troops or making sensitive investments in Greenland without US approval.
Denmark and Greenland have stressed that the agreement recognises Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination. Greenland’s government has also said the agreement would strengthen the territory’s security.
The US has sought greater control over Greenland’s security for strategic reasons, citing the territory’s location in the Arctic and concerns about potential activity by Russia and China.
The proposed agreement would allow Washington to expand its military presence on the island. The United States already operates the Pituffik Space Base in northern Greenland, which supports missile-warning, missile-defence and space-surveillance missions.
The arrangement follows months of tensions between Washington and Copenhagen over Greenland’s strategic status. The dispute had raised concerns within NATO, although security cooperation in the Arctic has since increased.
A 1951 defence agreement, updated in 2004, already provides the United States with extensive rights to increase troop deployments and military installations in Greenland, subject to notification requirements.
The latest agreement is intended to strengthen security cooperation in Greenland and the wider Arctic and North Atlantic regions while maintaining the territory’s existing constitutional relationship with Denmark.
