Denmark, its autonomous territory of Greenland, and the United States will sign an agreement in New York on Tuesday to strengthen security in the Arctic and North Atlantic region, the Danish Prime Minister's Office said on Monday.
The agreement will be signed by Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and US President Donald Trump, according to the office's statement.
The signing ceremony is expected to take place at United Nations headquarters at 10:30 local time (1430 GMT), the statement said, but did not disclose the agreement's specific terms.
Also, on Monday, Frederiksen addressed questions about whether the deal is connected to Trump's previous public remarks expressing a desire for the United States to have Greenland. She said Denmark has insisted from the outset that it is a sovereign state whose territorial integrity must be respected.
Frederiksen added that, under international law, the people of Greenland have an inviolable right to self-determination, which serves as a foundation of the agreement. She said that as long as she remains prime minister, Denmark will not cede sovereignty.
She further noted that the agreement is designed to be beneficial for Denmark, Greenland, and the United States, adding that the parties would not be moving forward with the signing if it were not advantageous for all involved.
Reaffirming that the pact is strictly a defense and security policy agreement rather than a handover of Greenland's sovereignty, Frederiksen said that the precise details of the deal will be made public following the official signing ceremony.
Under a defense agreement signed by Denmark and the United States in 1951 and amended in 2004, the U.S. military already has broad authorization to maintain personnel and facilities in Greenland, including the Pituffik Space Base.