Letter from Ambassador in September - “Greenland revisited”

Dear Friends,

   I hope that this letter would find you well while autumn can be felt closer every day. I have experienced the even faster reopening of society here in Denmark since the arrival of September. Rescheduled meetings and events since last year have taken place continuously. People who have taken off facial masks seem to be more cheerful, which might be reflection of my mind. Good news is that we see gradual resumption of visitors from Japan to Denmark.

Deer Park near Copenhagen in September 2021

    As I am writing this letter on 25th September, I am waiting for departure to Greenland again. The visit will be hosted by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and Greenland from 28 September for four days. Last time I visited there with my colleagues from Embassy of Japan and from Japanese companies around here in February 2020. One year and seven months have passed since then. I look forward to sharing my account with you after the visit, which has been difficult due to the restrictions caused by COVID-19.

   Traditionally, the relations between Japan and Greenland have developed through mainly fishery trade and scientific research cooperation in the Arctic region. Greenland and Japan have also cooperated with each other on the issue of whaling as well. I am sure that these areas of cooperation will remain important in the future. As for fishery trade and investment, Royal Greenland export shrimps and the fin of halibut (engawa) to Japan with its branch in Tokyo. Concerning Arctic cooperation, Mr. KONO Taro, then-Foreign Minister of Japan made a policy speech at Arctic Circle meeting in Iceland in 2018, pointing out the importance of tackling both “opportunities” such as exploitation of natural resources and use of Arctic marine route as well as “challenges” such as negative impact on life of indigenous people and ecosystem. He further elaborated the three elements for “ideal Arctic” for international community, i.e., a) identifying mechanism of environmental changes, b) sustainable economic use, taking into account life of indigenous people, and c) peace and orderly international cooperation based on “rule of law”. As Minister KONO stated and deepened the understanding among the Arctic states, Japan would like to promote cooperation with all the stakeholders to this end.

   While continuing to promote these traditional cooperation, parallel efforts have been made to gradually broaden the existing relations. For instance, we wonder if there would be future trade and investment opportunities in non-fishery areas. That was why the Embassy and Japanese companies went there and exchanged various views with the representatives of both government and business in Greenland, including Premier, economic ministers, business association, companies in airport construction, maritime transportation, air service, fishery and so on. Of course, one could hardly dream of signing a contract at a first single meeting. Therefore, we are willing to continue such business matching opportunities to try to grasp each other’s interests. On a different note, the Embassy has collaborated with Greenlandic cultural players and hosted Japan film festivals in the past eight years. We are preparing for a next film show after the last year’s disruption due to COVID-19. On top of that, we continue to talk with Greenlandic educational stakeholders about future youth exchanges, including reception of scholarship students and exchanges of universities among others.

   In April 2021, there was a general election in Greenland, bringing about the change of the government. Issues during the election campaign varied. There were those issues directly affecting daily life of the voters such as education and social welfare, the question about whether or not the exploitation of uranium mine in south of Greenland should continue and so on. The new coalition government coordinated by Inuit Ataqadigiit (meaning “community of people”) party has halted exploitation of the uranium mine as promised during the election campaign, reaffirmed the importance of cooperation with the US during the May visit of Mr. Blinken, the US Secretary of State and deepening the cooperation with Denmark further. 　

 
With Ms. Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, a Greenlandic Member (IA) of Folketing (parliament) of Denmark at the residence of Japanese Ambassador in September (Ms. MATSUMOTO on the right and the writer on the left) 

   During the visit of the US Secretary of State to Denmark in May, Mr. Broberg, Foreign, Trade, Economic and Climate Minister of Greenland visited Copenhagen and participated in the meeting between Secretary Blinken and Denmark. During his stay here, Minister Broberg also exchanged views with a few Ambassadors including me respectively. Minister was forward looking about strengthening trade and investment relations with Japan with his own experiences in business sphere. It seemed that Greenland would keep its expectation to further promote its trade and investment, both in traditional fishery area, and some other economic fields as well. I and my Japanese colleagues in Denmark look forward to revisiting Greenland in near future to have substantial discussion with the Greenlandic colleagues including those of the new government, aside from the diplomatic visit toward the end of September. At the end of the day, we do hope that we will be able to resume and build on the exchanges between Japan and Greenland once the COVID-19 related border restrictions imposed by Japan would be eased. Such exchanges will certainly cover tourist, youths, business people, government official, politicians among others.

   I wish you and your family well and look forward to seeing you either on this page or in person somewhere in Denmark.

At “Food Folk Meeting”, Mr. Rasmus Prehn, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark shakes hands with Mr. HOMMA, Embassy of Japan and me in September