Representatives of Arctic governments recently returned to Greenland to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2008 meeting in Ilulissat—the somewhat controversial gathering of the so-called “A5” Arctic Ocean littoral states that left other regional actors feeling excluded. In the first of a two-part interview, Associate Prof. Jon Rahbek-Clemmesen of the Royal Danish Defence College, who co-authored a report on the Ilulissat Initiative, shares his insights into contemporary Arctic governance and the inconspicuous yet enduring relevance of the A5, ten years after the Ilulissat Declaration.