COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Denmark's foreign minister says he expects countries around the North Pole to respect international laws when settling territorial claims in the Arctic.
Per Stig Moeller told reporters in Copenhagen on Wednesday that he hopes states with competing claims can resolve their differences in a responsible manner at a meeting next week in Greenland.
Officials from Canada, the United States, Russia, Norway and Denmark are meeting May 27-29 to discuss sovereignty issues in the Arctic.
Interest in the frigid region is intensifying because global warming has been shrinking the polar ice, possibly opening up new shipping lanes as well as new areas for resource development.
Last year, a Russian flag was planted under the North Pole ice during a scientific expedition that heated up controversy over an area that a U.S. study suggests may contain as much as 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and natural gas.
Canada has announced plans to build a new army training centre and a deep-water port within contested Arctic waters. Norway, the U.S. and Denmark also have claims in the vast region.
