an attempt to keep the arctic separate from other geopolitical tensions, indeed, there is this arctic councilic countries to talk to each other, to get a dialogue going, which is insulated from wider geopolitical tensions. is that era over? is the arctic council effectively dead now? stephen, it's an excellent question, and i think with the advent of finland and sweden into nato, there is a responsibility. i've been meeting this week with the nordic ambassadors to canada, but also, with my colleagues, who are defence ministers from those countries, and so for finland, sweden, norway, iceland, denmark, the united states, and us as well, and i think the united kingdom has a role here as well, we recognise that we have a responsibility in the protection of nato. the north atlantic treaty organisation has a northern frontier, and that is the arctic, and i agree we do not want to see that becoming a theatre of conflict, and there are a number of important diplomatic efforts, including the arctic council, but, quite frankly, that relationship has been badly shaken i think by russia's aggressive act

. of hope to is the arctic council-— of hope to is the arctic council. �* , ., council. are you serious? i spoke to the _ council. are you serious? i spoke to the defence - council. are you serious? i i spoke to the defence minister of canada who acknowledged right now the arctic council, he was paraphrasing is dead in the water?— the water? exactly that is why i think the water? exactly that is why i think we _ the water? exactly that is why i think we should _ the water? exactly that is why i think we should try - the water? exactly that is why i think we should try to - the water? exactly that is why i think we should try to keep l i think we should try to keep it alive and resuscitated because it is one of the few places where the americans, canadians and russians including us, here in the arctic are still involved, whether it is realistic in the long run i don't know but it is an inoffensive place, the arctic is about so many things, the environment, the economy and security, is it a new frontier? i don't think so but it is part and parcel of the larger geopolitical

ijust spoke to the defence minister of canada who acknowledged to me that right now the arctic councilut that's why i think we should try to keep it alive and resuscitate it because it is one of the few places where the americans, the canadians and the russians, including us here in the arctic are still involved. whether it's realistic in the long run, i don't know, but it's an inoffensive place. and the arctic is about so many things, the environment, the economy and security. is it a new frontier? i don't think so but i do think it's part and parcel of a larger geopolitical game. you have a role as president in your country, notjust when it comes to foreign policy and security policy, you're supposed to be some kind of values leader for finland. i just wonder how you fulfil that role when it comes to some deeply controversial things that the finnish government is currently doing? having closed the border, effectively, with russia as a result of the fallout from february 2022 and the invasion of ukraine, we now see that finland is being accused by the united nations, by a host of diff

is the arctic council effectively dead now?d i think with the advent of finland and sweden into nato, there is a responsibility. i've been meeting this week with the nordic ambassadors to canada, but also with my colleagues, who are defence ministers from those countries, and so for finland, sweden, norway, iceland, denmark, the united states and us as well, and i think the united kingdom has a here —— a role here as well, we recognise we have a responsibility in the protection of nato, it has a northern frontier, and that is the arctic, and i agree we do not want to see that becoming a theatre of conflict, and there are a number of important diplomatic efforts, including the arctic council, but quite frankly that relationship has been badly shaken by russia's aggressive actions, the illegal invasion of ukraine, and has cause for deep concern among the allies. we understand that in order to keep the peace in the arctic, we have to be strong in the arctic. it is one of the reasons i have turned our national defence policy strong

i think through the arctic council and other work with arctic states that don't include rush went to have a unified front about how we're going to approach the research that is taking place and the threats that it poses to the other arctic nation. >> great. thanks very much. thanks very much, mr. chairman. >> dr. nkengason, first, thank you for mentioning the need for the five-year reauthorization, the pepfar program. that something that this committee is very much interested in pursuing. disappointed we have a short-term extension. we do believe we need five years some glad to hear you mentioned that. the position that you been nominated to, about to launch for global health security and diplomacy, there will be an interesting relationship that i would like to get your views on. there is a turf issue between the state department and usaid on health issues. your responsibility to the state department directly. we have usaid that's engaged also in healthcare issues, and there'd been some concern about the mission creep between the two divisions, , the full divisn and usaid. can you ju

there's the arctic council that has been kind of the preeminent area looking at how we do management in the arctic with russia is illegal invasion of the ukraine. the u.s. and other countries pausee participation. there's efforts now to continue to do work but not engage in anything that the russians are taking part in. i think one of a very significant thing that the u.s. recently did is extend its continental shelf. that gave us much more territory that means we have much more control over the c scientific research. through the arctic council and other work with arctic states that don't include russia we have to have't a unified front about how we are going to approach the research that is taking place and the threats that it poses to the other arcticic nations. first, thank you for mentioning the need for the five-year reauthorization. that's something that the committee is very much interested in pursuing. we are disappointed we have a short-term extension and we do believe we need five years. i'm glad to hear you mentioned that. the position that you've been nominated to would be