Arctic Council

The Arctic Council is a high-level forum between governments. It addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. The Council is formed of eight countries: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States.^[1] All of these countries have sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle. There are also some observer states.

Arctic Council

members   observers
Formation	September 19, 1996; 27 years ago (1996-09-19) (Ottawa Declaration)
Type	Governmental organization
Purpose	Forum for promoting cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the Arctic states, with the involvement of the Arctic Indigenous communities
Headquarters	Tromsø, Norway (since 2012)
Membership	Canada Denmark Finland Iceland Norway Russia Sweden United States
Main organ	Secretariat
Website	arctic-council.org

The Council was formed in 1996 by the Ottawa Declaration.^[2] It is designed to encourage cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the Arctic states. The Council meets every six months for a Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) meeting. Senior Arctic Officials are representatives of the member states. Every two years a Ministerial Meeting is held. A "Declaration" is produced at this meeting. It sums up the past work of the Council and its future plans.