NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg concluded his trip to the Canadian Arctic on Friday, emphasizing the threats posed by Russia and China to the region.

Stoltenberg said: "Russia has established a new Arctic command, it has opened hundreds of new and former Soviet-era polar military sites, including airports and deep-water ports. Russia also uses the area as a testing ground for many new weapons systems."

He added that China is also working to expand its reach and has declared itself a "near-Arctic state," with plans to build the world's largest icebreaker. Stoltenberg said: "It is investing billions of dollars in energy infrastructure projects and research in the far north."

Jens also emphasized NATO's growing interest in Arctic defense, especially in light of Sweden and Finland's plans to join the military alliance. The NATO chief and Trudeau also spoke about increasing cooperation, but they did not commit to major NATO-led exercises on Canadian territory in the far north.

In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation "CBC News," Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said that allies' participation in local Canadian military exercises is acceptable to Ottawa, but the Liberal government "has no plans" to host a NATO training similar to the annual Cold Response exercise in Norway.

And former Canadian NATO Ambassador Yves Brodeur said that officially inviting the alliance for training in the Arctic would send an important signal to Russia.