Ottawa, June 11 (UNI/Sputnik) Canada and Denmark have settled a territorial dispute over the 1.3 square kilometer (0.4 square mile) Hans Island in the Arctic Ocean, media reported on Saturday.
Under the new agreement, a border will be drawn across the island, which will divide it between the Canadian territory of Nunavut and the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper.
The two countries plan to unveil the settlement on June 14 to provide an example of how countries can resolve border disputes peacefully amid Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the newspaper reported, citing sources.
Hans Island is located in the Kennedy Channel, which separates Canada and Greenland, Denmark’s autonomous territory. Canada and Denmark intended to delineate the border across the channel in 1973, when the countries were developing an agreement on the delimitation of the continental shelf.
The borders were drawn around the island, but ended at a distance of 875 meters (2,870 feet) from its northern and southern shores. The countries decided that the rights to the island should be negotiated separately, since it is not a sea territory. Decades later, they were able to share responsibility for the region’s environmental problems, but did not manage to resolve the ownership issue.
