Copenhagen - SPA
Aleqa Hammond on Tuesday became the first
female premier of Greenland, at the helm of a coalition government, dpa reported.
The 47-year-old Siumut party leader would also handle foreign
affairs, the Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq reported.
Siumut, a social democratic party, was to take charge of six of
eight cabinet portfolios including finance, fisheries, education and
natural resources.
Siumut won 14 seats in the March 12 general election, while the
junior partners - the conservative Atassut and the newly formed Inuit
Party - had two each, sufficient for a majority in the 31-seat
legislature.
Atassut would handle health and infrastructure while the Inuit
Party would take charge of the environment.
The new government was to be formally sworn in April 5 when the
new parliament convenes.
The sparsely populated island of 57,000 people has a large degree
of autonomy. Denmark remains in charge of foreign affairs, defence
and monetary policy.
Local politicians want to diversify the island\'s revenue streams
by exploiting what have been presented as promising finds of rare
earth minerals, iron ore and gold as well as oil and gas.
Curently, Greenland\'s economy relies on fishing and Danish
subsidies worth about 3.2 billion kroner (558 million dollars) a
year.