Very briefly, the Arctic Council, as you know, is a grouping of eight Arctic states. Regarding the purpose of the meeting, foreign ministers meet every two years. It's an opportunity to recognize some significant achievements—and there have been some significant achievements—and to develop a work plan for the next two years.
In terms of significant achievements, two initiatives in which Canada had a major leadership role are the Arctic marine shipping assessment and the Arctic oil and gas assessment. I think the marine shipping assessment is a valuable tool. It gives us a sense of where marine shipping is heading in the future, to the degree to which some of these issues are or are not going to be immediate for us in the future, and in what parts of the Arctic, and some of the ways in which we need to start thinking through how we respond to the challenges we face. The Arctic oil and gas assessment gives us a sense of some of the challenges we have in developing those resources from social, economic, environmental, and other perspectives.
In terms of looking forward, there are a number of issues that are high on the council's agenda. Underlying those issues continue to be the issues of sustainable development and environmental protection.
I'd be happy to provide more details, but that, in a nutshell, is the summary of what the minister has been doing in Tromso today.