GL in the EU; Partnership and Participation EIC KIC Raw Materials Northern CLC Stakeholder meeting Greenland EU relations -‐ partnership • Greenland is not a EU member but associated to the EU according to the Lisbon Treaty. • GL is one of 25 islands, called “OCTs”, which are all linked to one of 4 EU member states; The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France and Denmark. In other words, we are closely linked to the EU via our MS. • The association to the Union allows for certain preferences when it comes to trade and access to the market for our export products. It also allows Greenland to access the EU programmes, for free. • OCTs, the 4 EU member states and the COM keep a close political dialogue on matters of mutual concern. Important is the fact that we are close partners with a region of more than 500 million people and for GL an important alliance in global terms. • Our relation to the EU is described in the OAD as being part of the EU family. This is relevant when it comes to the variety of relationships to 3.rd countries or other EU Partners. The family bond. A Joint Declaration • In March 2015 a Joint Declaration on Cooperation between GL, DK and EU was signed by the President of the Commission and Premier Kielsen together with the Danish Prime Minister • The Declaration is a milestone in GL EU relations and illustrates the significance of GL to our Member State and to the European Union.
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• The Declaration unites the past, the present and the future, which is a very positive accomplishment. The Declaration reiterates the different focus areas of cooperation between us and states an intention to further develop the cooperation on areas including sustainable development, education, natural resources, climate, the Arctic and the social sector. • The declaration is a political document, a document that respects the fact that we have self-‐governance and that GL is a key partner to respect and consult on matters important to our common interests. Financial instruments; The Partnership Agreement • Currently, a central part of the Greenland-‐EU partnership is the Partnership agreement/decision, which is focused on education. The agreement secures an indicative amount of 217,8 mio. € Equal to 1,6 milliard DKK over the period 2014-‐2020 to finance the implementation of the “Greenland Programming Document”. • The GoG have decided that the focal sector for support is education and training. • The motivation for supporting the education and training sector – you know is obvious, but I will underline it, it is the most relevant growth parameter for our future prosperity and the societal development of our country. • Further a Fisheries partnership agreement and its protocols are fundamental in our EU relations. This agreement allows the EU fleet to fish in Greenland waters for a financial contribution of approximately 130 mio. DKK annually to the GOG. Letter of intent
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• The Letter of intent on raw materials was signed between the Government of Greenland and Commission Vice-‐President and the Development Commissioner, in Nuuk on June13th 2012. • The intentions are stated as close dialogue on 4 specific areas, which are; geological knowledge, analysis of infrastructure and investment needs, competence building and finally environmental issues. • From the EU part the interests was and still is to secure EUs needs for raw materials from a partner country, GL. • The Commission being political, had a wish to secure that European Companies were allowed access to GL raw materials and wanted to open opportunities for sector cooperation. • On June 19th 2015 the Commission presented a study on the EUs needs with regards to cooperation with Greenland. • I would like to highlight some of the outcomes of the report; 1. There is significant potential for mining of raw materials in GL, both in terms of volume and value and in the breath of minerals available. 2. Actions to be considered should ideally cover several of the four areas included in the LoI and not just one area. 3. Greenland remains a low risk destination compared to other resource rich countries. 4. There remain a number of significant barriers to mining in GL namely those relating to the lack of infrastructure and to the potential requirement for companies to process materials locally in a country without infrastructure. 5. There are risks related to the geological knowledge means in GL, which is good by int. standards but can be improved. A concern is access for companies to skilled staff.
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6. Other types of risks which are often crucial elsewhere are quite low in GL, these involves risk related to geopolitical factors, competition from other economic activities for land use, an finally governance and transparency issues – where it is stated that GL has a very open and well governed mining legal and regulatory framework. 7. A possible safeguard, is the EIBs possible role in future investments in mining and metal processing operations out side the EU to benefit growth in the EU, but the challenge with this is that it would tie financial assistance to trade with the union and that might require new types of development funding envelopes. 8. EU is in process of developing an integrated and coherent Arctic Policy, which should provide for effective synergies between various funding instruments for the Arctic Region or it is an opportunity to promote initiatives, which are in line with objectives and priority areas presented in the EU raw materials strategy as well as the GL EU partnership and LoI. I will now conclude on the issue of the Mineral Resource Dialogue between GL and EU by quoting the LoI which states that “both Greenland and the EU recognise the importance of mineral resources as indispensable inputs to industrial production and underline the importance of Greenland due to its geostrategic and economic position, to the EU sustainable raw materials supply.” Public Diplomacy • In June this year the GL Rep. hosted a seminar in Brussels with focus on the economic diversification and sustainable development of Greenland.
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• Here the message was that the GOG is focusing on growth and development of the business sector. A solid platform is needed in the international community to lift the development of necessary infrastructure to create growth. International investors as well as supporters and banks are fundamental to boost the strategies for the benefit of Greenland and partners abroad. • Presentations from Greenland addressed the fisheries sector, the oil and mineral sector and Arctic challenges in order to present an overall impression of the investment and business climate in Greenland. • The current main source of income is fisheries. However, the stocks of our primary products are decreasing due to changes in the climate. • Therefore, Greenland needs to find new means of income to diversify our economy. • The raw materials sector, the tourism sector and a continued adaptation of our fishing sector to climate change will be vital in order to address the future socio economic challenges that we will face. • This matches well with the KICs commitments to increase innovation capacity, competitiveness and sustainable growth, by strengthening collaboration between research, industry and education. • This rounds up my presentation on GL EU Partnership and Participation. Thank you for listening.
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