WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

The foreign ministers of the five Arctic Ocean coastal states in their meeting in Canada yesterday stressed the role of cooperation and international law. At the same time, they highlighted the major natural resource potential of the region.

Yesterday’s meeting between the five Arctic Ocean coastal states in Chelsea, Canada, indicates a formalization of an Arctic G5.

CHELSEA, Canada, March 30 (Itar-Tass) - The Arctic Five does not infringe the Arctic Council in any way and contributes to the solution of problems in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian journalists on Monday at the close the ministerial meeting of five countries situated on the coast of the Arctic Ocean.

OTTAWA -- It was supposed to be a meeting of polar pals. But a high-level session on the dramatic changes in the Arctic turned chilly Monday, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rapped Canada for leaving out several players.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left a summit of Arctic coastal countries Monday after criticizing Canada for not inviting all those with legitimate interests in the polar region.

Foreign ministers from Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway are meeting in Chelsea, Quebec, today -- with the Arctic on the agenda, and China on their minds.

Today in Chelsea, Que., Canada hosts a conference of foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, Norway and Denmark to discuss polar questions. Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon should be applauded for bringing together the five Arctic Ocean costal state to discuss issues like search-and rescue-capabilities, oil-spill cleanup capabilities and maritime shipping regulations.

Canada and Denmark have begun discussions aimed at resolving a decades-old boundary dispute in the Arctic Ocean, Canwest News Service has learned.

Half of Canadians believe Canada should exercise military might to assert sovereignty in the resource-rich Arctic, a new poll shows.