COPENHAGEN, March 5 (Reuters) – Denmark’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that it was significant that U.S. President Donald Trump had recognised Greenland’s right to self-determination while reiterating an interest in acquiring the island in his address to Congress.
Trump on Tuesday painted a picture of prosperity and safety for the people of Greenland, an autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, which he has said he wants to make a part of the United States.
Opinion polls suggest that most Greenlanders oppose joining the U.S., although a majority favour eventual independence from Denmark, while the Danish government has said the Arctic island must decide its own future and is not for sale.
“(Trump) said (they) respect the right to Greenlandic self-determination, and that I think was the most important part of that speech,” Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told a press conference in Helsinki on Wednesday.
Lokke Rasmussen said Denmark and Greenland had a common interest with the United States with regards to security in the Arctic.
“We are ready to work with our American friends on achieving that, but of course it would be based on the fact that we have a Kingdom of Denmark,” he added.
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Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik
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