American surprise visit ’causes some noise’ at major conference on Greenland’s future

Jeff Landry, the United States’ special envoy to Greenland, has turned up uninvited at the Future Greenland business conference in Nuuk, drawing far more media attention than the event would normally attract, according to Danish public broadcaster DR.

Landry, who serves as governor of the US state of Louisiana in his regular role, appeared on the participant list for the conference despite having no official invitation. The chair of Grønlands Erhverv, the business organisation behind the conference, Krissie Berthelsen Winberg, said his presence “causes a little noise” in relation to the event’s actual purpose of supporting business in Greenland.

“We probably cannot avoid that. It is a slightly different time we find ourselves in,” she said.

DR’s reporter in Greenland, Cecilie Kallestrup, noted that the press turnout was considerably larger than anticipated. “We hear that some people find it a little surprising that Jeff Landry has suddenly said he intends to show up here,” she said.

Berthelsen Winberg said she was confident the US government’s repeated interest in gaining some form of control over Greenland would not overshadow the conference once it got underway. “When it is up and running and we have opened the doors, it proceeds according to the agendas we have set,” she said.

Asked whether a conference welcoming American participants could be held in a climate where Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has said the US still seeks some form of control over the territory, Berthelsen Winberg said cooperation was welcome but on clear terms. “We are happy for cooperation and want more cooperation. But it must be with respect for borders and for who we are as a people. Within that framework we can easily cooperate and make many agreements,” she said.

Landry, speaking to DR, rejected that his visit was connected to US ambitions over Greenland. He said he was in Greenland to “build relationships, listen and learn” and to explore whether it was possible to “expand the relationship between the US, Greenland and Denmark.”

Also part of the American delegation is Ken Howery, the US ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark. Neither Howery nor Landry received the kind of reception typically seen during official visits. “There were no Greenlandic politicians present and no locals either,” Kallestrup said of Howery’s arrival.

The conference programme includes speeches from Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Múte B. Egede, minister for foreign affairs, who is scheduled to speak under the theme “When business policy and foreign policy go hand in hand.”