The End of a Chairship: A Final Q&A with Morten Høglund

What have been some of Norway’s key achievements during its Chairship?

I think perhaps the greatest achievement has been getting the Arctic Council back in business again. Due to the pause in Arctic Council meetings, there was little activity going on when Norway assumed the Chairship. Reaching consensus to restart virtual Working Group meetings enabled them to pursue their activities in a more meaningful way, which has been really instrumental. It has given people some optimism, and we see a lot of valuable work being done throughout all the Working Groups.

We had to find alternative ways to engage and discuss. We did this through Chairship initiatives like the Wildland Fires Initiativeand organizing the first ever Arctic Youth Conference, among others. While these initiatives may have happened regardless of the pause, I think they became even more important in elevating Arctic issues on many different stages. And in doing so, we sent a strong message that Arctic Council is here to stay. It's active, it's relevant and it's important.

Official Arctic Council meetings on the diplomatic level have been on pause. As Chair, how have you adapted your approach to cooperation?

There’s no hiding that this is a challenge. It has become very crucial that we do continue to have close contact and dialog with all Arctic States and Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations with Permanent Participant status in the Council. To do that, the Chairship conducted numerous bilateral and multilateral meetings with the Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs) of all Arctic States, and has stayed in very regular touch with them.

For cooperation with and among the Indigenous Permanent Participants, we established a new format for meetings. We held regular SAO Chair-Permanent Participant meetings several times a year. Some were hybrid meetings, but we also held meetings where representatives of all six Permanent Participants were together in person. We also held regular SAO Chair-Working Group meetings in the same format. These new formats provided regular contact and made sure that everyone’s perspectives could be taken into account regarding Arctic Council decisions.

Observer states and organizations were also hit hard by the pause. During our Chairship, we made an effort to keep them informed through virtual meetings as well as in person gatherings. A lot of Observers have also been active in reaching out and asking us for meetings, so it has been positive to see their continued interest. Now, we are in a better place with Observers being able to participate at the Working Group level. It’s still work in progress, and while we did take a lot of steps to engage Observers, I understand there is an eagerness for more involvement, and this is a conversation that needs to happen at every level of the Arctic Council. What I want to add is that, as an example, for the Norwegian Chairship Wildland Fire Initiative and the cryosphere side event we had during COP29, some of the Arctic Council Observers were very valuable partners, and that’s something we appreciate a lot. Going forward, we would like to see more of this, where we join forces on certain issues, drawing on the competence of Observers.

Were there any unexpected lessons you learned during your time as Chair?

Every day, every single day! I've said it before, but going in, I knew it would be a challenge. That was a given. But going in, I didn't fully appreciate the length of time it would take to achieve small steps. So, there was a lot of learning, a lot of patience and a lot of appreciating the small steps forward. And looking back, there were a lot more positives than challenges.

What has been the most rewarding aspect during your time as Chair?

The most rewarding aspect was when we were able to get all the Working Groups up and running with proper virtual meetings. That was a real breakthrough for the Arctic Council, getting so many people engaged again in doing their good work, considering new projects and everything. So that's definitely a big one.

Also being able to travel to many Arctic communities and meeting people, discussing their livelihoods and challenges, seeing how they live and what they are faced with, and how, for instance, climate change and other issues affect them. On a personal level, this has been both extremely interesting but also rewarding and an inspiration to all the work that is done in the Arctic.

What is your hope for the Arctic Council moving forward?

My hope for the Arctic Council going forward is that it continues to now build on all the good activities going on, and make sure that the Working Groups have proper working conditions. I hope the SAOs and Permanent Participants are properly included in decision making, and that there can be discussions also on a strategic level, making sure that the Arctic Council continues to be the most important multilateral forum for Arctic issues. I hope the Council will remain important to the people living in the Arctic, and also continues to provide valuable and important knowledge on Arctic issues to the global community.

Is there anything final you’d like to say before you hand over the Chairship to the Kingdom of Denmark?

This has definitely not been a one man show. I would actually say, despite not having official meetings, it has been a very united Arctic Council in terms of strong engagements with SAOs, Permanent Participants, Working Groups, the Arctic Council Secretariat and the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat. Yes, there have been a lot of high emotions. But that's because we love the Arctic Council. We see the value of the Council. When we have disagreed, it's not because we want to break down the Council. It's because we all want to see the Council succeed.

So even if there was impatience, and even when I got many questions from all directions about the full resumption of meetings for example, this was always welcome. Because first of all, it gave me a belief that it's worth it to do it – it’s worth it to advocate for the Council. It could have been an option to hold tight, put the Council in the back of our minds and just wait for everything to go back to some kind of normal. But if we did that, maybe it would be too late. And the Council is too important to lose. So, I think that spirit of coming together, which has been so strong, is why the Council is where it is today. It hasn’t died, and we haven’t formed anything new as many have said would happen. And that’s because we have seen so much dedication at all levels of the Arctic Council, and we are very grateful for that.