Press Release: European Commission signs today agreement of cooperation with Greenland on raw materials

To improve access of EU industry to raw materials at an affordable price, the European Commission wishes to intensify cooperation with Greenland benefitting both sides, such as joint infrastructures and investments or capacity building in exploration and exploitation of raw materials.

A letter of intent on co-operation in this area was signed in Nuuk (Greenland) by Vice President Antonio Tajani and Commissioner for Development Co-operation Andris Piebalgs on behalf of the European Commission, and Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist on behalf of Greenland. Currently ca. 58 % of exploration companies operating in Greenland are Canadian or Australian companies.

The share of EU companies operating in Greenland is only 15% (Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic and United Kingdom). Although of the four exploitation licences three are European, the European companies have a low involvement in on-going exploration activities and own only a few exploration licences (with most licences owned by UK, Germany and Denmark).

European Commission: Memo/12/428: Greenland's raw materials potential and the EU strategic needs http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/12/428&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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