The United States and Greenland are creating a new and dynamic partnership that expands relations well beyond their traditional focus on security policy. In August 2004, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller and Home Rule Deputy Premier Josef Motzfeldt met in Igaliku, Greenland to sign an update to the 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement and two additional political declarations that have broadened and deepened cooperation between the United States and Greenland. Specifically, the Igaliku Agreements created the Joint Committee, which now serves as an expanded forum to promote cooperation between the United States, Denmark and Greenland.

The Joint Committee meets biannually, but its working groups facilitate more frequent interaction between government, academic, and private institutions in the United States, Greenland, and Denmark to advance common projects and encourage cooperation across a diverse range of policy areas: environment, science, health, technology, trade, tourism, education, and culture.