Washington, 10 December 2021 (TDI): An Economic Partnership Dialogue was held between the United States of America (USA/US) and Iceland. The meeting was led by Economic and Business Affairs Senior Bureau Official, Matt Murray and Icelandic Director-General for External Trade and Economic Affairs, Ragnar Kristjansson.
Both parties jointly addressed global challenges such as pandemic recovery, green energy solutions, trade, and bilateral cooperation. In addition, the US and Iceland reiterate to continually build upon strong economic ties.
This session was the third edition of this catalog. In fact, the first meeting occurred in February of 2019 before Covid, the second occurred in October 2020 during COVID-19 and this edition is the post-pandemic session. So, this session was the follow-up to update the resolutions of the previous sessions.
US and Iceland Relationship
The United States and Iceland established direct diplomatic relations in 1940 following the German occupation of Denmark. Iceland was part of the Danish crown before gaining its autonomy.
As Iceland was under Denmark’s jurisdiction, it was urgent to protect the territory from a possible invasion. At that time, World War II was at its beginning and the dynamics were to contain the expansion of Germany and protect territories that could be invaded.
When Iceland became independent in June 1944, the US was the first country to recognize it. Later, after World War II in 1948, Iceland became a part of the Marshall plan.
Each party has representatives in the other state. For instance, the US embassy is located in Reykjavik and Iceland has its embassy in Washington D.C.
Both embassy’s mission is to strengthen cooperation and understanding between the people and government of Iceland and the United States. Moreover, the other function is to attend to the interest of their population that live in the US or Iceland respectfully.
To conclude, the two nations cooperate in politics, economic and cultural exchanges, that help reinforce their ties. Indeed, this 3rd session of the economic partnership dialogue is proof that each party sees relevant the cooperation of the two until today.
