Purchase of Greenland not a topic with Pompeo: Danish FM
Xinhua | Updated: 2020-07-23 09:47
COPENHAGEN -- Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said on Wednesday that the U.S. desire to buy Greenland was not on the table during his meeting with the visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"That discussion was dealt with last year and was not on the table here," Kofod told a press conference after the meeting.
The foreign minister acknowledged that Denmark and the United States had different opinions on issues such as climate change.
"We prefer that the U.S. remain in the Paris Agreement," said Kofod.
Earlier in the day, Pompeo met the country's prime minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.
The U.S. reopened a consulate in Greenland's capital Nuuk last month after 67 years. The United States previously had a consulate in Nuuk from 1940 to 1953.
U.S. President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit Denmark in the autumn of 2019, but canceled the visit after Frederiksen rejected his intention of purchasing Greenland by calling it an "absurd" proposal.
Greenland is the largest island in the world (excluding Australia, which is often defined as a continent), with a population of about 56,000.
