On the occasion of the Arctic Council's 20th anniversary, we asked Ambassador David Balton, the current Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, for some of his thoughts on the Council's past, present, and future. This is the last of three segments.

On the occasion of the Arctic Council's 20th anniversary, we asked Ambassador David Balton, the current Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, for some of his thoughts on the Council's past, present, and future. This is the second of three segments.

On the occasion of the Arctic Council's 20th anniversary, we asked Ambassador David Balton, the current Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, for some of his thoughts on the Council's past, present, and future. This is the first of three segments.

A joint statement from Ministers of the Arctic States on the occasion of the Arctic Council's 20th anniversary

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On September 19, 1996 in Ottawa, the Arctic Council was established as a high level intergovernmental forum to enhance cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States with the active involvement of Arctic indigenous peoples and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues. Today, we celebrate twenty years of Arctic cooperation and look forward to a long term future of peace and stability in the region.

The Arctic Council was established on 19 September 1996 with the signing of the Ottawa Declaration. The Ottawa Declaration lists the following countries as Members of the Arctic Council: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States. In addition, six organizations representing Arctic Indigenous peoples have status as Permanent Participants. The category of Permanent Participant was created to provide for active participation and full consultation with the Arctic Indigenous peoples within the Council. They include: the Aleut International Association, the Arctic Athabaskan Council, Gwich’in Council International, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North and the Saami Council.