COPENHAGEN, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Danish government is ready to finance the expansion of two airports in Greenland with 700 million Danish kroner (about 109 million U.S. dollars), Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said on Monday.
"The aim is to strengthen the Business Committee and equip Greenland's economy for more aging population, and this is a goal the Danish government fully supports," Rasmussen told a press conference in Nuuk, Greenland.
Moreover, Denmark will also provide a low-interest loan of up to 450 million kroner to Greenland for the upgrades of the two airports in Nuuk and Ilulissat.
Greenland is largely self-governed, and Denmark maintains control only over foreign affairs and defense policy.
The Danish parliament is required to approve the agreement, and according to Rasmussen, cross-party support already exists.
The agreement must also be approved in Greenland. However, the pro-independence party Partyii Naleraq resigned on Sunday from the government coalition, referring to dissatisfaction about the Danish involvement in the airport upgrades.
Greenland's Prime Minister Kim Kielsen's Siumut party and the two other parties in the coalition, Atassut and Nunatta Qitornai, all back the proposed Danish contribution to the airports. (1 U.S. dollar = 6.43 Danish Kroner)
