Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede said on Friday he was ready to speak with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he wants control over the Arctic island, and urged respect for the island’s independence aspirations.

The prime minister of the Greenland says the people of his mineral-rich Arctic territory don't want to be Americans but that he's open to greater cooperation with the United States.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute B. Egede called on his people to stand united amid a renewed push for independence and recent interest from US President-elect Donald Trump in the Arctic island.

Greenland's Prime Minister Múte Egede has stated that the island does not wish to be part of America or Denmark, but instead seeks independence. Source: The Financial Times (FT), citing Egede in a statement at a press conference in Copenhagen on Friday,

Meanwhile, Egede has advocated for Greenland's independence, criticizing Denmark as a colonial power with a history of mistreatment toward the island's Indigenous Inuit population