Today, 1 June 2011, the Republic of Iceland will become ECMWF’s 19th Member State. This marks a new chapter in the long relationship between ECMWF and Iceland, which has been a Co-operating State since 1980.
As a Member State, Iceland will acquire full voting rights at the ECMWF Council, starting at the 75th Council session on 16 and 17 June 2011. Also, a portion of the Centre’s computer and archive resources will be allocated to Iceland for its own use.
On 9 March 2011, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, Minister for the Environment of Iceland, and Dominique Marbouty, Director-General of ECMWF, signed the “Agreement between the Government of Iceland and ECMWF on the accession of Iceland to the ECMWF Convention and related terms and conditions” in Reykjavik.
Iceland deposited the instruments of accession with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union on 15 April 2011 and, in accordance with the time frame set out in Article 23(2) of the ECMWF Convention, will thus become a full Member State today, 1 June 2011.