US to name special envoy for Arctic

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that he will soon name a special representative for the Arctic region to promote American interests there.

The top American envoy said in a statement that he will select "a high-level official of stature" for the post to advance American interests in the region, which he described as "the last global frontier" with "enormous and growing geostrategic, economic, climate, environment and national security implications for the United States and the world."

"President (Barack) Obama and I are committed to elevating our attention and effort to keep up with the opportunities and consequences presented by the Arctic's rapid transformation -- a very rare convergence of almost every national priority in the most rapidly-changing region on the face of the earth," Kerry said.

He said he informed Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski, senators from the state of Alaska, of his plan, as the pair have been pressing for naming an envoy to the Arctic.

The United States takes the chair of the Arctic Council in 2015.