At the 11th Arctic Council ministerial meeting, India has been re-elected as Observer of the Arctic Council. Earlier, India had got the observer status in 2013.
About:
What is it? Arctic Council is an inter-governmental forum.
History: The 1996 Ottawa Declaration established the Arctic Council in 1996.
Secretariat: Tromsø, Norway.
Mandate: To promote cooperation among Arctic states on common issues, particularly on sustainable development and environmental protection.
What doesn’t it do?
The Arctic Council does not and cannot implement or enforce its guidelines, assessments or recommendations. That responsibility belongs to each individual Arctic State.
The Arctic Council’s mandate, as articulated in the Ottawa Declaration, explicitly excludes military security.
Who takes part?
The Ottawa Declaration lists the following 8countries as Members of the Arctic Council: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.
In addition, six organizations representing Arctic indigenous peoples have status as Permanent Participants.
Observer status in the Arctic Council is open to non-Arctic states. Besides India, 12 other nations including China, France, Germany, Japan, UK, Switzerland and Netherlands have observer status.
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