US President Barack Obama has expressed an interest in increased
cooperation with Iceland, especially with regards to green energy.
Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson, who met Obama at a NATO meeting in Strasbourg-Kehl over the weekend, said that the president was enthusiastic about the prospect of visiting Iceland. Specifically, he said that he would like to see a greater partnership between Iceland in the US in the development of geothermal energy; that the US could learn from Iceland in this field. Including in this was the creation of “green jobs”. Before the meeting concluded, Obama appointed one of his advisors to be in direct contact with Iceland.
The blog world in Iceland, as can be expected, is alight with the news. Most Icelandic bloggers received the news very positively, seeing the prospect of increased jobs here in Iceland, as well as having the chance to share the country’s knowledge and expertise of geothermal energy with the US, in a very positive light. One blogger went so far as to ask, presumably in jest, why Obama can’t be the prime minister of Iceland.