Introduction
The Arctic Council was established by the Ottawa Declaration of 1996 "as a high level intergovernmental forum to provide a means for promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, with the involvement of the Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic," according to their website.
Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America are Member States and Chairmanship of the Arctic Council rotates on a biyearly basis.
To learn more about the organization, visit the Arctic Council website.
Working Groups
The Arctic Council contains six different working groups, including the Sustainable Development Working Group, which has hosted the Arctic Energy Summit.