Norwegian monarch visits polar Svalbard as interest in Arctic grows

King Harald and Queen Sonja Visit Svalbard Amid Arctic Interest

By Gwladys Fouche

OSLO (Reuters) -Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja were due to visit on Monday the main settlement on the strategically located Arctic archipelago of Svalbard at a time of increased interest in the resource-rich polar region from the U.S., Russia and China. 

Focus on the Arctic's strategic importance for mining, shipping and security has increased sharply because of repeated statements by U.S. President Donald Trump that he wants to take over Greenland.

The Arctic also holds fossil fuels and minerals beneath the land and the seabed and is an area of military and economic competition.

The royal visit comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron visited Greenland in a show of European solidarity.

Svalbard - which officially became part of Norway in 1925 - lies roughly midway between the North Pole and the European mainland. King Harald's visit is to mark a century of Norwegian sovereignty.

It is governed under a 1920 treaty which also allows citizens of signatory states to settle there without a visa. 

The Svalbard treaty restricts military use of the archipelago, but the islands are not a demilitarised zone. Russia has in the past accused Norway of militarising Svalbard, which Oslo denies. 

Norway is NATO's monitor for the vast 2 million square km (772,204 square miles) area of the North Atlantic, which includes the waters between Svalbard and the European mainland, used by the Russian northern fleet's nuclear submarines. 

Svalbard has two Russian settlements, Barentsburg and Pyramiden, with 297 residents currently out of a total population of 2,863, according to Statistics Norway.

China, which calls itself a "near-Arctic" state, wants to create a "Polar Silk Road", an alternative shipping route to reduce its dependence on the Strait of Malacca.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouché in Oslo; Editing by Rachna Uppal)