Denmark will become the first country in the world to appoint a digital ambassador to manage its relationship with technology giants such as Google, Apple and Microsoft.
According to the Danish newspaper, Politiken, the development has become necessary because companies are now so large, both in their economic strength and the influence they have on people’s everyday lives, that they surpass many of the countries where Denmark has its traditional embassies.
‘These companies have become a form of ‘new nation’, and we have to deal with that’, said Anders Samuelsen of the Liberal Alliance party.
Apple and Google are almost large enough to enter the club of the world’s top 20 major economies, the so-called ‘G20’, if they were nations.
‘We will, of course, stick to the old way of thinking, where we protect our relations with other countries. But we are bound to have close relationships with some of the companies that affect us’, said the Foreign Minister.
This is not a new development, as the world already saw the rise and fall of the British East India Company between 1600 and 1874, and the Dutch West India Company between 1602 and 1674.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
