In their meeting the Foreign Ministers of Iceland and Estonia discussed bilateral cooperation and cooperation within international organizations, took status of Iceland‘s accession negotiations with the European Union, discussed economic development in the eurozone and issues related to NATO MORE...

Negotiations were launched this morning on six chapters in Iceland's accession talks with the European Union at an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in Brussels. The Icelandic delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson.

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The Nordic and Baltic countries accept the new Coalition as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people and that they stand ready to support the Coalition on its path towards building a strong and viable political alternative to the current regime in Syria. MORE...

The workshop is a part of a project, assessing transportation infrastructure in the High North on behalf of the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group. MORE...

The Foreign Minister urges the UN Security Council to listen to the message coming from the General Assembly and overwhelming majority of UN member states. MORE...

The Resolution will be voted on by the General Assembly tomorrow, 29 November.

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Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, restates his fear of escalating military conflict in Gaza. He strongly condemns the continued Israeli attacks on Gaza and Hamas rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

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Regrets all loss of life on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian border due to air and missile attacks. MORE...

The Trade Policy Review of Iceland concluded today at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland MORE...

Foreign Minister Skarphéðinsson welcomes Jóhannesson appointment to build up the Arctic Council's Secretariat, which is to be set up in Tromsø, Norway in 2013.  MORE...

The Foreign Ministry and the National Committee of UN Women in Iceland sign a cooperation agreement for 2013-2015.

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Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs, presented today the most extensive development project Iceland has participated in. It includes the development of  a Global Geothermal Development Plan under the auspices of the World Bank MORE...

Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson writes about the readiness of Sweden and Finland to participate in air surveillance in Iceland in daily Fréttablaðið. MORE...

Sweden and Finland confirmed during the meeting of Nordic Foreign Ministers in Helsinki today their readiness to take part in air surveillance in Iceland in 2014. MORE...

Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, met today with Vladimir Titov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia,, discussing cooperation between Iceland and Russia on arctic issues. MORE...

Negotiations on three chapters were launched this morning in Iceland's accession talks with the European Union at an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in Brussels. The chapters opened are on Financial Services, Statistics and Customs Union. Further talks will now commence.

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Iceland has received a confirmation from the EU Council Presidency, Cyprus, that EU considers Iceland prepared for negotiations on Chapter 3, Right of establishment and Freedom to provide services and Chapter 4 on Free movement of capital MORE...

he primary authors of the handbook are Magnus Gehringer, Senior Energy Specialist, ESMAP, and Victor Loksha, Senior Energy Economist, ESMAP. The Icelandic Foreign Ministry has financed Mr. Gehringer's work on the handbook since 2010. MORE...

A two-day international conference,  Nordic Africa Days, opened today, 18 October in Reykjavík.

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Opening benchmarks, which were set for Chapter 11 on Agriclulture and rural development for Iceland‘s accession talks with the European Union, have been fulfilled by the Icelandic authorities

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Negotiations concluded at a meeting in Reykjavik of 70 experts from USA, Finland, Iceland, Canada, Russia, Sweden and Denmark on behalf of the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
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The European Commission today published a progress report on the status in Iceland‘s accession negotiations with the European Union. The main conclusions are positve, stating that Iceland´s accession is matter of mutual benefit to the EU and Iceland

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This week around 70 representatives from the Arctic states will gather in Reykjavík for negotiations on a legally binding agreement on mutual assistance in the case of a marine oil spills in the Arctic MORE...

Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs, met today with Aleksandar Andrija Pejovic, Chief Negotiator of Montenegro MORE...

Össur Skarphéðinsson, Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, called for reform of the United Nations Security Council in his address to the UN General Assembly this weekend MORE...

Hahn is meeting with ministers and Iceland‘s Chief Negotiatior before he visits Egilsstadir and Husavik in Northeast-Iceland. MORE...

Iceland notes that any trade measures, beyond refusing landings by fishing vessels of fish from a fish stock of common interest over the management of which there is serious disagreement, would be a breach of the EEA-agreement. MORE...

Today the EFTA Court in Luxembourg heard oral arguments in the so-called Icesave case,  brought before the Court by the EFTA Surveillance Authority claiming that Iceland had breached its obligations according to the EEA Deposit Guarantee Directive. MORE...

The Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, is on an official visit to Iceland today.  Cyprus currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

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Iceland‘s Foreign Minister, Össur Skarphéðinsson, met today with Villy Søvndal, Foreign Minister of Denmark, who is on an official visit to Iceland. MORE...

The exercise in and around the coast of East Greenland is a part of the Arctic Council agreement  on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic.

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Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson gave the opening address at a three day Conference of Arctic Parliamentarians (CPAR) in Akureyri on Wednesday. In his speech the minister called for greater political cooperation and concrete partnership amongst the Arctic states, e.g. on environmental issues and in the field of search and rescue.

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The Minister for Foreign Affairs met today with US Senator Ms. Lisa Murkowski from the State of Alaska. They discussed Arctic Affairs, renewable energy and issues pertaining to civilian and environmental security in the Arctic region. Iceland is looking towards strengthening its cooperation with the United States and in particular with  the State of Alaska on these issues.

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The Government of Iceland fully supports efforts to strengthen the international response to the Syrian crisis. MORE...

Negotiations on three chapters were launched this morning in Iceland's accession talks with the European Union in an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in Brussels. The chapters opened are on Transport Policy, Social Policy and Employment and Financial Control. Further talks will now commence. A total of 18 chapters have now been opened out of 33 and so it can be said that the second half of the negotiations has started.

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On June 20, Mr. Einar Gunnarsson, Permanent Secretary of State, met with the Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Pavlo Klimkin. During the meeting they discussed bilateral relations between the two countries, trade cooperation and international affairs, including the United Nations, NATO and the OSCE, with particular focus on Ukraine´s chairmanship of the OSCE in 2013.

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The Government of Iceland has submitted its Reply to the Statement in Intervention of the European Commission in the Icesave case to the EFTA Court. This marks the end of the written part of the proceedings in this case. An oral hearing is scheduled to be held in Luxembourg on Tuesday 18 September 2012. MORE...

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Össur Skarphéðinsson, strongly condemns atrocities committed by Syrian authorities as well as armed militias linked to the Syrian Government. There is little doubt these actors have planned and committed systematic violations of human rights in the past few weeks and months. The Minister also condems specifically the recent mass murder of civilians in El-Houlah in the western part of Syria and stresses that all those responsible must be brought to justice. MORE...

Yesterday, the time-limit for third parties to submit written observations in the Icesave-case expired. Norway and Liechtenstein essentially support Iceland´s argument that the Deposit Guarantee Directive does not impose upon the State to provide financial contributions in the event that the funds of a deposit guarantee scheme prove insufficient to compensate investors. MORE...

Today, Iceland served the EFTA Court with its Rejoinder in the Icesave case. In the Rejoinder Iceland responds to the arguments put foward by the EFTA Surveillance Authority in its Reply to Iceland´s Statement of Defence, submitted to the Court in early March.

This completes the 2nd round of the written procedure of this case.

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Nordic cooperation is developing rapidly. When the Nordic Foreign Ministers came together in Stavanger on 4 May, they discussed ways of strengthening Nordic cooperation and a number of important international issues.  One of the platforms for deepening cooperation on foreign and security policy is the 2009 Stoltenberg Report, which outlines specific proposals for closer cooperation in 13 different areas.

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At the meeting of the EEA Joint Committee on Monday 30 April Iceland presented a statement on the Commission proposal for a "Regulation on certain measures in relation to countries allowing non-sustainable fishing for the purpose of the conservation of fish stock".  In its statement Iceland expressed grave concern that certain measures envisaged by the EU would put the EU in breach of its international obligations.

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On 26^th April, Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, presented his annual report on foreign affairs to the Icelandic Parliament.

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This morning, Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson met with Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, responsible for international trade. The Minister is part of a delegation led by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, which arrived today in Iceland on an official visit.

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The Government of Iceland has today submitted its observations on the application for leave to intervene in the Icesave case, lodged with the EFTA Court by the European Commission. The observations are based on the advice of Lead Counsel, Tim Ward QC, and the case team assisting him.

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The Icelandic Ministry of Finance has presented the Treasury‘s Medium Term Debt Management Strategy for 2012-2015. MORE...

The Parliament has approved two amendments to the capital controls regime in an attempt to halt increasing circumvention through the bond market and possible negative effects of large capital flows originating from the winding-up process of the failed Icelandic banks. MORE...

Representatives of government and industry from Iceland, Japan and the European Union, met in Brussels last week for a workshop on cooperation in geothermal issues. The workshop was held in the premises of the European Economic and Social Committee.

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The Government of Iceland has lodged with the EFTA Court its statement of defence in the Icesave case. The statement is submitted in response to the application lodged by the EFTA Surveillance Authority and forms the basis of Iceland’s defence.

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France and Iceland have agreed to reinforce their cooperation on arctic matters. This was discussed at a meeting today in Paris between Össur Skarphédinsson, Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Alain Juppé, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of France.

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Icelandic Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson, met yesterday with Nicolai Wammen, Denmark's Minister for European Affairs.

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The consultative group for Iceland‘s accession negotiations with the European Union held its first meeting at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Friday the 24th of February. The chairperson of the group is Salvör Nordal, philosopher and director of the Centre for Ethics at the University of Iceland.

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The Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Villy Søvndal, today delivered a statement on behalf of the five Nordic countries and the three Baltic states at the “Friends of Syria” conference held in Tunis to discuss the deteriorating situation in Syria. MORE...

At the annual meeting of the Hoyvik Council, held in Reykjavík yesterday, Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson  and Kaj Leo Johannesen, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, discussed increased trade between Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Össur Skarphéðinsson met with Ms. Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, during his official visit to Cyprus. Ms. Kozakou-Marcoullis pledged full support of Iceland's application for EU membership during Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union. MORE...

Today, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Össur Skarphéðinsson, met with the Romanian Foreign Minister, the speaker of the Romanian Parliament and the Minister of European Affairs, during his official visit to Romania. At the meetings, Foreign Minister Skarphéðinsson discussed the use of funds from the EFTA Development Fund to commence geothermal projects in Romania. MORE...

Ambassador Gudmundur Árni Stefánsson presented today to the Honorable Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America, the Letters of Credence accrediting him as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Iceland to the United States of America at the Oval Office. MORE...

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson today announced his decision to instruct Tim Ward QC as lead counsel in the infringement proceedings brought to the EFTA Court by the EFTA Surveillance Authority concerning minimum deposit guarantees on the Icesave accounts.

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