Foreign relations of the Cook Islands

The Cook Islands maintains diplomatic relations with various countries and is a member of multilateral organisations. While the country is in free association with New Zealand, which can act on the Cook Islands' "delegated authority [...] to assist the Cook Islands" in foreign affairs, the Cook Islands nevertheless enters into treaty obligations and otherwise "interacts with the international community as a sovereign and independent state."

History In the 1980s the Cook Islands became a member of several United Nations specialized agencies: the World Health Organization in 1984, the Food and Agriculture Organization and UNESCO in 1985, and the International Civil Aviation Organization in 1986. The Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs records that in 1988 New Zealand declared "that its future participation in international agreements would no longer extend to the Cook Islands..."Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs, Supplement No. 8, Volume VI at para 11 In 1991 the Cook Islands became a full member of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) Preparatory Committee and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change (INC), which the Repertory of Practice describes as "further evidence that the international community had accepted the Cook Islands as a “State” under international law." The United Nations Secretariat therefore "recognized the full treaty-making capacity of the Cook Islands" in 1992 and the Secretary-General, in his capacity as the depository of multilateral treaties, decided that the Cook Islands could participate in treaties that were open to "all states".Summary of Practice of the Secretary-General as Depositary of Multilateral Treaties (United Nations, New York, 1999) at para 86

Diplomatic relations List of countries with which the Cook Islands maintains diplomatic relations: + #CountryDate12345678910111213—1415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536—373839—4041424344454647484950515253545556575859606162636465

Bilateral relations

Americas

Country Formal Relations BeganNotes 2023 The Cook Islands signed the Cook Islands–United States Maritime Boundary Treaty in 1980.Anderson, Ewan W. (2003). International Boundaries: A Geopolitical Atlas, p. 595; Charney, Jonathan I. et al. (2005). International Maritime Boundaries, 5 vols, pp. 985–993. The US established diplomatic relations with the Cook Islands in 25 September 2023.

Asia

Country Formal Relations BeganNotes1997The Chinese Embassy to New Zealand in Wellington is also accredited to the Cook Islands.1998The Indian High Commission in Suva, Fiji is accredited to the Cook Islands.

Europe Country Formal Relations BeganNotes N/A The Cook Islands has not established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom; the UK does not recognise the Cook Islands to be a sovereign nation. The Cook Islands does not maintain an embassy in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is not accredited to the Cook Islands through an embassy; the UK develops relations through its high commission in Wellington, New Zealand.

The UK governed the Cook Islands from 1888 to 1901, when the Cook Islands were transferred to New Zealand.

Both countries share common membership of the World Health Organization.

Oceania

Country Formal Relations BeganNotes1994See Australia–Cook Islands relations

Australia and the Cook Islands established diplomatic relations in 1994, with the Australian High Commissioner resident in Wellington, New Zealand.* Australian high commission to the Cook Islands* Australian High Commission Cook Islands. Retrieved 17 July 2021 Australia has a high commission in Rarotonga, opened in December 2019. For a detailed history of Australian accreditation to the Cook Islands see List of high commissioners of Australia to the Cook Islands. Although the Cook Islands maintained a resident high commission in Canberra for some years in the 1990s, at present it has no diplomatic representation to Australia. Australia's relationship with the Cook Islands focuses on shared membership of regional organisations, trade and investment, people-to-people links and security cooperation. The 2016 census records that a diaspora of at least 22,000 Cook Islands citizens live in Australia, including in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.*Cook Islands Country Brief * Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 17 July 2021 There have been regular exchanges of ministerial visits. Prime Minister Henry Puna made an official visit to Australia in November 2019. Governor-General David Hurley made an official visit to the Cook Islands in June 2023.*Governor-General's Program 27 June 2023 * Governor-General of Australia. Retrieved 3 July 2023. 1993 The Cook Islands maintains a High Commission in Wellington and a Consul-General in Auckland. New Zealand maintains a High Commission in Rarotonga.

Consular relations

The following countries have established consular relations with the Cook Islands only. 2007 or before

International organisation participation

ACP, AOSIS, AsDB, ESCAP (associate), FAO, ICAO, IMO, ICC, ICFTU, IFAD, ILO IOC, OPCW, Pacific Islands Forum, Red Cross/Red Crescent, South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission, Sparteca, SPC, UNESCO, WHO, WMO Commonwealth of Nations – the Cook Islands are part of the Commonwealth, but is not a member state, being a dependency of New Zealand, whose Commonwealth membership covers the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau, as well as New Zealand itself. In November 2011, the Cook Islands were one of the eight founding members of Polynesian Leaders Group, a regional grouping intended to cooperate on a variety of issues including culture and language, education, responses to climate change, and trade and investment."NZ may be invited to join proposed ‘Polynesian Triangle’ ginger group", Pacific Scoop, 19 September 2011"New Polynesian Leaders Group formed in Samoa", Radio New Zealand International, 18 November 2011 The Cook Islands participate in the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations regulatory body for the shipping trade.

Participation in international treaties and conventions

Party to the following treaties and conventions: Biodiversity Convention, Cotonou Agreement, Geneva Conventions, POPs Project, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCLOS, UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol, Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, Biological Weapons Convention, Convention of the International Mobile Satellite Organization

Foreign relations of the Cook Islands

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