North Meets North: Navigation and the Future of the Arctic

This is a report of a working group of the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs. There is every indication that changes are likely to take place in the North in the future as a result of rapidly growing demand for natural resources and export of oil and gas from the Arctic regions of Russia surrounding the Arctic Ocean, coupled with improved conditions for navigation due to a change of climate in the area. In view of the great interests at stake for Iceland, the Minister for Foreign Affairs established a working group, under the auspices of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, to examine the opening of the Northern Sea Route and its significance for Iceland. This is the working group's report and it has thereby fulfilled its tas