Norway's foreign minister Tuesday called for peaceful cooperation in the Arctic as the region's five bordering countries vie for potentially lucrative natural resources.
"High North, low tension," Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said prior to the opening of an international conference in the northern Norwegian town of Tromsoe on the Arctic's melting ice.
"We will as responsible governments and coastal states be able to manage the challenges and opportunities of this region without gliding into conflict and negative competition," he told reporters.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the Arctic region could hold 13% of the world's undiscovered oil reserves and 30% of its undiscovered natural gas.
The resources are expected to become increasingly accessible as the Arctic ice cap melts.
The race for the riches - which are still technically difficult to exploit - has been accompanied by rising militarization in the region.
NATO has announced plans to play a growing role in the region, and Russia also plans to deploy military units there.
Territorial claims in the Arctic came to the fore in 2007 when Russia planted its flag on the seabed some 4,000 meters beneath the North Pole.
"We have every opportunity to prove wrong those who say that this is bound to be a regional conflict of competing interests. It need not be that way, we can do that very differently," Stoere said.
He said the Arctic Council, which groups Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the U.S., was the best forum for regional cooperation.
The Arctic Council was to meet Wednesday in Tromsoe, guested by former U.S. vice president and climate change activist Al Gore as well as foreign ministers from several countries including Sergei Lavrov of Russia.