The West Nordic Council was founded in Nuuk on 24th September 1985. It is a cooperative forum among the national parliaments of the West Nordic countries: Løgtingið in the Faroe Islands, Inatsisartut in Greenland and Alþingi in Iceland. The council comprises eighteen members of parliament, six from each country. The West Nordic Council’s objectives are to collaborate on West Nordic interests, both regionally and internationally, and to safeguard the environment, resources and culture of the North Atlantic region. These objectives are implemented through recommendations and requests to the governments of the West Nordic countries.
The West Nordic Council may also adopt internal resolutions and statements. The West Nordic countries rotate leadership of the West Nordic Council annually. The council convenes for two ordinary annual meetings; an Annual Conference, usually held in August, and a thematic conference, usually held in January. Hosting of the meetings alternates between the three countries.
The Annual Conference of the West Nordic Council constitutes the ultimate authority of the council. At the Annual Conference, proposals for recommendations and statements, as well as proposals for internal decisions, are debated. At the Annual Conference, a Presidium is elected, consisting of one member of parliament from each country, and elects a chairperson, who leads the work of the Presidium and the Council for a one-year term, in accordance with the rotating leadership among the countries in the council.
Between Annual Conferences, the council is led by the Presidium, which holds meetings approximately six times a year both in-person and online. Each year the West Nordic Council addresses a special focus issue that constitutes the topic of the council’s thematic conference. During the thematic conference, West Nordic experts and other speakers give lectures on the theme of the thematic conference, followed by a debate. Every two years, the West Nordic Council awards the council’s Children and Youth Literature Prize, which is aimed at supporting West Nordic children and youth literature.
The council appoints an expert jury, whose members are from the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. The jury selects a winner from nominated works of the three West Nordic countries. The West Nordic Council cooperates internationally. The council has observer status in the Standing Committee of the Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region (SCPAR) and the Arctic Council, and works closely with the Nordic Council. The West Nordic Council also holds an annual meeting with the DEEA Committee of the European Parliament. The West Nordic Council was afforded a staffed secretariat in 1997, located in the offices of the Icelandic parliament in Reykjavik. The Secretary General of the Council directs the day-to-day operations of the Secretariat.
The West Nordic Council’s 40th anniversary was celebrated with the participation of the speakers of the West Nordic parliaments at the council’s Annual Conference in 2025, in Ilulissat. To mark the anniversary, which took place on 27th to 28th August, stories were compiled from the council’s work as well as information about the council’s decisions, members and leaders over the past 40 years, which are published on the council’s website https://www.vestnordisk.is/. The West Nordic Council will also actively participate in the West Nordic Day celebrations on 25th September 2025 in Tórshavn, Nuuk, and Reykjavík. Icelander Lárus Valgarðsson has more than 20 years of experience in parliamentary work and international cooperation, first as international secretary in the Icelandic Parliament 2006-2016 and then as secretary to the Presidium of the Nordic Council Secretariat in Copenhagen 2016-2021.
