{"id":360912,"date":"2026-04-02T22:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/360912\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:06:09","slug":"cook-islands-and-nz-talking-again-with-clarity-on-path-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/360912\/","title":{"rendered":"Cook Islands and NZ talking again with clarity on path forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Foreign<\/p>\n

\nForeign Minister Winston Peters arrives in Cook Islands and is greeted by Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ John Tulloch\n<\/p>\n

A new declaration document signed by New Zealand and the Cook Islands has been welcomed in the Cooks while providing what a defence and security expert describes as clarity over issues that led to a breakdown in relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown and New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters signed a defence and security declaration<\/a> on Wednesday local time in Rarotonga (Thursday NZT).<\/p>\n

It comes more than a year after Mark Brown signed a strategic deal with China<\/a> despite Wellington’s calls for more transparency and consulation around it.<\/p>\n

When Brown’s government went ahead with the China pact, it caused a major fallout with New Zealand [https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/international\/pacific-news\/578905\/cook-islands-pm-says-economy-remains-strong-despite-nz-funding-pause which suspended almost $30 million in annual funding to the Cooks.<\/p>\n

But the new agreement – which recognises that their “vital interests are interconnected” – represents improved relations between the two governments.<\/p>\n

Good faith<\/p>\n

Brown said the agreement has been conducted in good will and good faith – and will help them chart the course ahead with confidence.<\/p>\n

“We signed this declaration as a new foundation built on clarity, on mutual acknowledgement and on the shared belief that two nations, different in size but equal in dignity, can build something genuinely worth investing,” he said.<\/p>\n

Peters said the dispute with the Cook Islands caused unnecessary anxiety and uncertainty. But he said the new declaration removes previous ambiguity, and provides clarity on the relationship, which is important at a time of geopolitical volatily.<\/p>\n

“The global environment we face today is more complex and challenging than any point since 1965. Given the scale of the challenges we face, it’s only right that New Zealand and the Cook Islands face them together.”<\/p>\n

Clarity<\/p>\n

Anna Powles, an associate professor at Massey University’s Defence and Security Centre, told RNZ Pacific the deterioation of diplomatic relations showed both parties had very distinct views about their obligations to each other under the 2001 Joint Centenary Declaration.<\/p>\n

“What this one does is help to comprehensively clarify the fact that New Zealand is situated as Cook Islands’ primary defence and security partner and that it’s very much an exclusive relationship,” she said.<\/p>\n

Cook Islands United Party leader Teariki Heather said the agreement with Aotearoa shows the two countries are sincere about mending their diplomatic relationship.<\/p>\n

The opposition MP attended the signing ceremony in Rarotonga and had high “praise” for the New Zealand government.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s indication that New Zealand will never, ever leave the Cook Islands astray.”<\/p>\n

‘Sincere’<\/p>\n

Heather said that Peters’ move to travel to Rarotonga to talk to the Cook Islands direct on its home turf was a humble gesture and significant.<\/p>\n

“It’s a sign: they’re sincere about the declaration that was signed this morning, but also they’ve been sincere about the relationship that we have built in all these years.”<\/p>\n

Cook Islands opposition leader Tina Browne said it was an important bridge to mend given the state of global affairs.<\/p>\n

“I think that was the right choice. Getting it fixed over here is good for our people. It really has come I think, at that right time with us facing the war or the impact of the war in the Middle East,” Browne said.<\/p>\n

“The news about mending our relationship with New Zealand can only be a plus going into, let’s call it, something worse than covid.”<\/p>\n

Alongside the signing of the new declaration, New Zealand will also resume almost $30 million annual development funding.<\/p>\n

Relief<\/p>\n

Green Party’s foreign affairs spokesperson Teanau Tuiono said he was relieved that the Cook Islands and New Zealand governments were talking again.<\/p>\n

“I think that (relief) would be shared by Cook Islanders, both in Aotearoa but also in the Cook Islands, that actually they’ve gone and done something, because it’s been dragging out for far too long,” he said.<\/p>\n

Tuiono said while there had been mistakes on both sides, the withdrawal of core public funding on behalf of the New Zealand government would have had detrimental impacts on education and health services.<\/p>\n

The breakdown in all important relationships between at the government level was also damaging.<\/p>\n

“I know when this happened, there was a lot of anxiety for our people. People were concerned that their passports were going to be taken off them, that kind of thing. There was a lot of confusion about what the actual deal was and what it meant.”<\/p>\n

He said it was positive and important for the government to have gone to the Cooks and spent time with the people as part of a move towards resolving the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Foreign Minister Winston Peters arrives in Cook Islands and is greeted by Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":["post-360912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}