Canada has agreed to negotiate with Denmark over a small and uninhabitable island in the Arctic claimed by both countries, officials from each said on Monday.
But, Canada will not back away from its position that the island was discovered by the British and inherited by this country in 1867 after Confederation, a spokesperson for Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew told AFP.
"Minister Pettigrew has agreed to meet his Danish counterpart at the United Nations General Assembly in September to discuss a possible political process to resolve this longstanding dispute," he said, calling the meeting "a sensible and responsible approach" to find a peaceful resolution to the dispute after much antagonizing from both sides.
The senior official downplayed expectations of a swift resolution, however, saying the first meeting is merely to set up a "framework" for negotiations.
Hans Island sits on the boundary between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Denmark's Greenland. It is uninhabitable, but the onset of global warming is expected to bring ship traffic to the region soon and open it up to mining, fishing or drilling for oil and gas.
A diplomatic spat erupted between Ottawa and Copenhagen after Canadian Defence Minister Bill Graham visited the barren patch of land on July 20 during a whirlwind tour of Canada's Arctic military outposts, hoping to harden Canada's claim to the far north, according to officials.
But, the dispute over the island dates back to 1973 when the border was drawn between Canada and Greenland. The two countries never agreed on an 875-meter portion of the border where the island is located.
Danes and Canadians have visited it often to lay claim to it.
In 2003, the crew of a frigate landed on the island and erected a Danish flag. Four years ago, Canadian geologists flew to the island and Canadian energy companies have surveyed the surroundings, according to reports.
Canadian forces last month erected a plaque, the Canadian flag and an Inuit stone marker called an inukshuk on the island.
Now, a Danish navy vessel based on Greenland is en route to the island to place a Danish flag there.
