US to name special envoy for Arctic

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

Kerry said in a statement Friday that he will select "a high-level official" 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", reported Xinhua.

"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 US takes the chair of the Arctic Council in 2015.