ATLANTA /US/, October 31. /TASS/. Greenland’s importance to security will continue to grow, and Washington’s recent military agreement with the island safeguards the interests of all North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a press conference following the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
"It has always played a critical role in national security. It is more pronounced now, not just because of defenses against missiles, but because of the Arctic," Rubio said, referring to Greenland.
"We now have an agreement in place that will exist in perpetuity that ensures not just the equities of North America, meaning the United States and Canada, but all of our partners in NATO as well," he added.
Rubio rejected suggestions that the parties interpreted the agreement differently or that Washington misunderstood it. "We have a very good deal, one the president is fully apprised of," he said, adding that US leader Donald Trump understood and supported it.
The agreement is about "protecting not just the national security of the United States, but the security of our allies in NATO and in North America," Rubio concluded.