President of the Republic of Finland Alexander Stubb, President of the United States Joe Biden and Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement on icebreaker collaboration in Washington D.C. on Thursday 11 July 2024.
As leaders of Arctic nations, Canada, Finland, and the United States, recognizing the enduring importance of the region to our collective economic, climate, and national security, we resolve to deepen our cooperation to ensure the polar and Arctic regions remain peaceful, cooperative, and prosperous. As part of this effort, we are announcing an enhanced trilateral partnership called the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort or ICE Pact.
Through ICE Pact, our governments will build on our longstanding and ongoing bilateral ties. As the first initiative under ICE Pact, we will commit to a collaborative effort to continue building best-in-class Arctic and polar icebreakers and other Arctic and polar capabilities in each of our respective countries by sharing expertise, information, and capabilities. Over the next six months, we also will jointly develop an implementation plan for this collaboration to build these highly complex and critical vessels for our allies and partners with interests and responsibilities in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
This partnership will strengthen the shipbuilding industries in each nation with the goal of creating good-paying jobs in shipyards, marine equipment manufacturers, and many other related services across all three countries. In the Arctic, new, faster shipping lanes hold the potential to create new economic opportunities and drive down shipping costs. And in the Antarctic, our partnership can also foster increased scientific research and international collaboration.
This partnership is about more than the collective production of polar icebreakers and capabilities, including Arctic and polar-capable ships. It is about providing the capability for like-minded nations to uphold international rules, norms, and standards to sustain peace and stability in the Arctic and Antarctic regions for generations to come.
