CANADA’S indigenous governor general and its foreign minister will visit Greenland in early February, Prime Minister Mark Carney has said.

The visit comes as US President Donald Trump renewed his demand for control of Greenland, which is a self-governing Inuit territory of Denmark. 

Mr Trump has also previously talked about making Canada the 51st US state.

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand and Governor General Mary Simon, who is of Inuk descent, are expected to open a consulate in Nuuk, Greenland.

“The future of Greenland and Denmark are decided solely by the people of Denmark,” Mr Carney said on Tuesday while meeting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at Canada’s embassy in Paris.

Ms Anand said she would be in Nuuk in the coming weeks to inaugurate Canada’s consulate and “mark a concrete step in strengthening our engagement in support of Denmark’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Greenland.”

The island of Greenland, 80 per cent of which lies above the Arctic Circle, is home to about 56,000 mostly Inuit people.

Ms Simon said: “At the request of the prime minister, the governor general is expected to visit the kingdom of Denmark and Greenland. Our two nations share a 1,864-mile maritime border, as well as deep historical and cultural connections between Inuit communities.” 

The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Britain joined Ms Frederiksen on Tuesday in defending Greenland’s sovereignty in the wake of President Trump’s comments about the territory of Denmark, which is part of the Nato military alliance. 

The leaders issued a statement reaffirming tht the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island “belongs to its people.”

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller had said on Monday that Greenland should become part of the US, despite a warning by Ms Frederiksen that a takeover by Washington would lead to the end of Nato.