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The Arctic Council’s permanent secretariat was established in Tromsø, Norway, on Monday when Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide and director of the secretariat Magnús Jóhannesson, who is Icelandic, signed a host country agreement between Norway and the Arctic Council.
The secretariat will be responsible for communication, general meeting preparations and coordination for the Council and working group relations. The establishment of the permanent secretariat is considered by the Council as a significant step in strengthening its work in global discussions and decision-making.
According to a press release from the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the establishment of the permanent secretariat is a top priority in Iceland’s Arctic policy. Magnús was appointed director of the secretary in November last year.
Iceland’s Minister for Industries and Innovation Steingrímur J. Sigfússon attended the ceremony along with his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt and Canada’s Minister of the Arctic Council Leona Aglukkaq.
Ministers, experts and media representatives were among those to attend the Arctic Frontiers conference, also in Tromsø this week, with Steingrímur giving a keynote speech at a session entitled ‘Marine Production in a Changing Arctic.’
Iceland is one of eight Arctic Council Member States: Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States make up the remaining seven.
Related story:
November 11 | Icelander Appointed as Director of Arctic Council
ZR
A petition urging the government to reconsider a proposed bill, in which the terms of the law requiring fishing companies to pay a tariff for their use of Iceland’s fishing resources are to be changed, has been signed by more than 11,000 people.
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Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson is meeting with Prime Minister of Sweden Frederik Reinfeldt today, 
A three-meter long walrus was discovered on the shores by Eyri in the town of Reyðarfjörður in East Iceland yesterday.
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In 1915, women aged 40 and over were granted the right to cast a vote in all official elections held in Iceland.
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The 2013 June-July issue of Iceland Review is out. Themed ‘We Are Young’ the magazine celebrates the arrival of summer by interviewing young energetic Icelanders who excel in art, sports, business and politics—and Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the youngest PM in the republic’s history and the world’s youngest ruling state leader. Click here to take a look at a selection of the current issue and here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
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The road to Höfn, a 1,690-person harbor town by the fjord Hornafjörður, is lined with reindeer. Whole herds of the wild horned animals rest peacefully on withered pastures, grace next to sheep and horses and bounce along the road. Soon, Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier and the region’s biggest attraction, comes into view. Looming over Höfn, its outlet glaciers flow down from the mountains on which the bright white icecap rests.
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Sin Fang will celebrate the release of his third album with a release concert in Iðnó on June 12. Flowers was released in February by Morr Music and has been well received by music enthusiasts and critics alike. The concert will be supported by Vök, this year’s winners of the Icelandic Music Experiments.
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