The Foreign Service Journal, May 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2021 35 dictable industry makes Greenland potentially vulnerable to international commercial headwinds. China is now Greenland’s largest country market for sea- food exports. Beijing’s ambitions in the Arctic are unclear, but Chinese companies have stakes in potential large-scale mining projects in Greenland. And just last December, Russia tapped a prominent local businessman— with sizable ties to Greenland’s fishing industry—as its first honorary consul in Nuuk. Other industries, such as tourism and mining, have potential to play a larger part in Greenland’s economy, but are still in their nascent stages. Greenland’s natural beauty is pristine and rugged in a way that would appeal to well-heeled adventure tourists, but the logis- tics, time and expense of getting to the island and traveling from one town to another present formidable obstacles. Mineral resource extraction could be another avenue for diversi- fication of the economy, but the harsh Arctic environment coupled with local concerns over environmental impact have so far kept large mining opera- tions at bay. There are today a dozen honorary consuls in Greenland, all of them local business- men. They represent the interests of the other Nordic states as well as countries such as France and Latvia and as far away as South Korea. Only the United States and Iceland have formal diplomatic presences on the island, however, with the Icelandic consulate general established in Nuuk in 2013. Momentum for a Broader Relationship The military has played an important role in U.S. activities in Greenland for decades. Thule Air Base, our northernmost military installation, has been in operation since the early 1950s. Other former Air Force bases now serve as Greenland’s primary airports. According to a declassified Jan. 8, 1946, report to the Secretary of State on wartime activities from Consulate Godthaab, its responsibility at that time was “to act as a liaison capacity between the Greenland administration and the United States military and naval authorities in Greenland.” Since the closing of Consulate Godthaab, the United States has conducted reporting and public diplomacy programming on Greenland from Embassy Copenhagen, including support for visiting American students and scholars to Greenland, which has recently become a popular research and exchange program destination. While this allowed us to keep generally apprised of what was happen- ing here, it made it difficult to form lasting relationships. Many Greenlanders are used to well-intentioned people coming here for visits or for short-term jobs. But without a demonstrable commitment to the island, it is hard to gain the trust necessary for true relationship-building and part- nerships. During the past three years in Washington, Nuuk and Copenhagen momentum grew to broaden U.S.-Greenland ties, including in trade and invest- ment, in education and tourism, and in mineral resources and energy. The mutual desire to cre- ate a stronger, healthier, multifaceted relationship helped launch our current consulate. Three officers from Embassy Copenhagen were assigned: Greenland Affairs Officer Sung Choi was named principal officer, and a public diplomacy officer, as well as a devel- opment adviser fromUSAID were soon added to the roster. Plans for opening the consulate were well underway at the start of 2020, when the pandemic began its course around the world. With so much of the population on the island located in small, remote settlements with limited health care services and providers, it became imperative to prevent the spread of COVID- 19 to Greenland. When the consulate opened in June, Sung was the only American diplomat on the island. Instead of a reopen- ing with customary pageantry, the consulate enjoyed an intimate gathering of Greenlandic and Danish guests. The Consulate Nuuk seal after a winter storm. EAVANCULLY