Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, left, and Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters in Rarotonga. 8 February 2024 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon
New Zealand's Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Bede Corry will be in the Cook Islands this week.
The Cook Islands foreign affairs office said Corry's visit to Rarotonga will be the first official visit to the country in 2025.
It said the visit follows the Joint Ministerial Forum Working Group meeting of senior officials from both nations that was held in November last year.
Corry will meet with his counterpart Tepaeru Herrmann and other senior Cook Islands government officials.
Bede Corry, chief executive and secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Photo: MFAT
"We welcome the visit by Secretary Corry early in this year of our nation's 60th anniversary of self-governance in free association with New Zealand," Herrmann said.
She said they look forward to discussing several issues, "including how we might together celebrate this milestone year and strengthen our ties and expand our collaboration moving forward in a manner that better supports our shared and separate interests and priorities."
The proposed Cook Islands passport will be one of the issues that will be discussed, according to the Cook Islands News.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said that the Cook Islands can only have its own passport if it is "fully independent".
He said for the island to have a separate passport, it would mean that the Cook Islands would need to give up its New Zealand citizenship.
"If the goal of the government of the Cook Islands is independence from New Zealand, then of course that's a conversation we are ready for them to initiate."
However, Prime Minister Mark Brown, earlier this month, called on Cook Islanders not to be fear the discussions they may need to have regarding the proposal.
"He is advocating for a Cook Islands passport as a 'symbolic representation of national pride and identity' while retaining New Zealand citizenship," the Cook Islands News reported.
-RNZ Pacific/Cook Islands News
