Premier Sandy Silver met with several government, business and civic leaders in Reykjavik, Iceland this week to discuss Arctic sovereignty and the importance of increased cooperation and collaboration throughout the circumpolar North. The meetings took place as Canada celebrates 75 years of diplomatic relations with Iceland and built on discussions held when the Nordic ambassadors visited Whitehorse during the Arctic Arts Summit in June.
Premier Silver met with Canada’s Ambassador to Iceland Jeanette Menzies to discuss tourism, innovation and opportunities for increasing connections across the circumpolar North. The Canadian Embassy in Iceland hosted Premier Silver and number of leaders, including:
- Bogi Nils Bogason, CEO of Icelandair;
- Jon Sigfusson, Chairman of the Board of Planet Youth;
- Bala Kamallakharan, founder of Startup Iceland;
- Asthildur Sturludottir, Mayor of Akureyi; and
- Heidi Kutz, Canada’s senior Arctic official.
Productive discussions covered a range of issues from Arctic sovereignty, geothermal energy, entrepreneurship and the tech and innovation sectors to education, youth mental health and tourism.
Premier Silver also met with the CEO of Business Iceland to discuss renewable energy, carbon capture technology, innovation, tourism and economic development, as well as EFLA, an Icelandic engineering and consulting company, to discuss port infrastructure in the North.
