No snipers on the rooftops this time

Security around the Nordic Prime Ministers’ summer meeting in the Westman Islands was moderate compared to the security situation surrounding the summit meeting, which took place in Reykjavík in May. At least there were no snipers on every roof in the Westman Islands.

The meeting of the prime ministers took place in Eldheimar and the media were allowed to take pictures at the beginning of the meeting. When the journalist of mbl.is reached Eldheimar yesterday, two of policemen were guarding the driveway to the car park and in the distance one policeman could be seen, by radio, on the hill north of the museum. That was it.

Also of note was the fact that in the town hall last night, the media, and anyone who seemed to know, could waltz in and out of the hall before the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The security in Herjólfur, too, was on the quieter side, although it was most noticeable around Trudeau. Thus Jakobsdóttir walked around Herjólfur, wearing her Icelandic woolen sweater, with the Nordic Prime Minister, but when Trudeau wanted to greet the captain, the route was blocked off while Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen and her Swedish colleague Ulf Kristersson had to excuse themselves through the crowd.

Indigenous people in the Artic

At the meeting in Eldheimar, the ministers will discuss the common issues of Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Åland Islands, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and, last but not the least, Canada.

The issue of indigenous peoples in the Arctic will be raised, Trudeau said as he and Jonas Gahr Støre took a short chat with the media after pictures were snapped of the ministers north of Eldheimar shortly before the meeting began.

After the filming was over, Jakobsdóttir, Fredriksen and representatives of the Icelandic, Greenlandic and Faroe Islands, went back in while Petteri Orpo, the Finnish Prime Minister, and Kristersson posed for the media. The same was done by Trudeau and Støre.