Copenhagen (AFP) – US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland landed in Nuuk on Sunday for a visit of several days to the autonomous Danish territory, local media reported. Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry arrived for his first visit in the role and is due to take part in an economic forum in the Greenlandic capital on Tuesday and Wednesday. Organised by the employers organisation Gronlands Erhverv, the Future Greenland event will bring together investors, political and business leaders to try to encourage investment there.
Landry’s visit comes after international tension over Trump’s repeated claims to the territory, which sparked alarm not just in Greenland and Denmark but across western Europe. Landry arrived accompanied by around 10 other people and drove off in a convoy of five cars, the local daily Sermitsiaq reported. The US ambassador to Denmark is due to fly in to Greenland on Monday.
“Together, they will meet with a wide range of Greenlanders to listen and learn with a goal of expanding economic opportunities, building people-to-people ties, and increasing understanding between the United States and Greenland,” said a US embassy statement sent to AFP. Trump appointed Landry to the post on December 22. In January, Trump backed down from his repeated threats to seize Greenland, after which Copenhagen and Nuuk held a first meeting in Washington.
Trump has repeatedly argued the US needs to control Greenland because of national security concerns, claiming that if the US does not take the Arctic island then it would fall into the hands of China or Russia. Last Tuesday, Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said talks between the territory, Denmark, and the United States had yet to produce an agreement, even if there had been progress.
© 2024 AFP
