Diplomats from four countries presented their letters of credence to the King’s Representative Sir Tom Marsters this week.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration (MFAI) facilitated a presentation of credentials ceremony by Ambassadors from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of the Philippines, Ireland, and the High Commissioner of Malaysia, in Rarotonga on Tuesday.

In a statement, MFAI said the King’s Representative received letters of credence from Ard van der Vorst, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Cook Islands, Kira Azucena, Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to the Cook Islands, Jane Connolly, Ambassador of Ireland to the Cook Islands, and Mazita Marzuki, High Commissioner of Malaysia to the Cook Islands.

These diplomats are based in Wellington, New Zealand.

MFAI director for the International and Trade Division, Mackenzi Wichman, said: “MFAI are pleased to conduct diplomatic activities and accreditation of foreign representatives in the Cook Islands with this week’s ceremony supporting ongoing bilateral conversations between the Cook Islands and all four countries.”

The Cook Islands and the Kingdom of the Netherlands established diplomatic relations in August 2011. This followed upon advice through diplomatic channels that the Netherlands had recognised the Cook Islands as a sovereign, independent State.

King’s Representative Marsters was the country’s deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration when the two countries formalised diplomatic ties.

“For some time now, the Cook Islands has been working to deepen cooperative and other ties with the Kingdom of the Netherlands and other members of the European Union and that process will continue.  The Cook Islands welcomes the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Netherlands which will provide an excellent foundation for future cooperation between our two countries,” Marsters said in 2011. 

The Cook Islands and the Philippines established formal diplomatic ties in December 2011.

The two countries have always maintained friendly relations and have supported each other in many common issues affecting them such as maritime safety and climate change.

The establishment of diplomatic ties in 2011 further cemented this friendship and the two countries looked forward to deepening the cooperation existing between them. 

The country hosts a number of Filipino citizens in the professional and service sectors. 

Cook Islands formalised diplomatic relation with Malaysia in 1992, during the early days of the country’s foray into international diplomatic engagement in its own right.

Over the years, bilateral co-operation between the two countries have primarily focused on technical and capability development opportunities for Cook Islands across a broad number of areas, delivered through the Malaysia Technical Co-operation Program (MTCP). In the regional fora, the two countries have interacted through the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Malaysia being a long-time dialogue partner of the PIF and collaboration. In the multilateral fora, collaboration has been on various platforms including the Asia Development Bank (ADB), World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the United Nations Economic Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) amongst others.

The Cook Islands and Ireland formalised diplomatic relations in November last year, committing to strengthening bilateral and multilateral co-operation between the two countries.