Denmark's Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller and his Canadian counterpart Pierre Pettigrew agreed to stop the flag war over Hans Island, Ritzau news bureau reported on Tuesday.

The dispute over Hans Island remains unresolved, but at least Denmark and Canada have agreed to be civil about it, Moeller said.

Moeller met with Pettigrew at the United Nations ' General Assembly in New York on Monday, without reaching a conclusion on the ownership of the 1.3-kilometre island in the Arctic Ocean between Greenland and Canada, Ritzau reported.

Denmark considers Hans Island to be part of Greenland, because it has traditionally been used by hunters from the former Danish colony. Although Greenland's Home Rule government administers domestic affairs, Denmark continues to represent Greenland in its foreign affairs.

"We acknowledge that we hold very different views on the question of the sovereignty of Hans Island," the two ministers said in a joint statement after the meeting.

They agreed, however, to stop the two nations' habit of dispatching their navies to invade the uninhabited island to tear each other's flag down.

"We will ensure that there will be no more flag wars," Moeller said.

The diplomatic dispute has persisted since the early 1970s. It escalated last July when the Canadian defence minister paid a visit to the island and placed the Canadian flag there. Denmark responded by calling the visit a breach of territorial rights.

"Denmark and Canada can't promote peaceful resolution of the world's conflicts, only to reveal that we can't do it ourselves. So we agreed to start a dialogue about the Hans Island problem, and say we do not accept flag wars. It won't happen again," Moeller said.

Danish and Canadian officials are to meet soon to find a common solution.

"While we pursue these efforts, we have decided that, without prejudice to our respective legal claims, we will inform each other of activities related to Hans Island. Likewise, all contact by either side with Hans Island will be carried out in a low key and restrained manner," the two ministers said in their statement.

The dispute does not to focus on Hans Island itself, but on oil reservoirs and the possibility of the northern route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans opening up as global warming melts the Arctic ice cap, according to Ritzau.

Source: Xinhua