New Zealand Governor-General, Her Excellency Dame Cynthia Kiro will visit the Cook Islands this week as a guest of the Head of State, the King’s Representative, Sir Tom Marsters, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration (MFAI) said in a statement.

Dame Kiro will lead a delegation visiting the Cook Islands from June 7 to 10 and will meet with Sir Tom and Lady Tuaine Marsters, Prime Minister Mark Brown, as well as other government and civil society representatives on Rarotonga and Aitutaki.

The programme of engagements for the visit is being coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration in partnership with the Cook Islands Office of the Head of State and the New Zealand High Commission in Rarotonga.

This week’s visit follows an engagement between Dame Kiro and Prime Minister Brown in London in September while both were attending the funeral of Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth II. It also follows a courtesy call upon Dame Kiro by then acting Cook Islands High Commissioner to New Zealand resident in Wellington, Piakura Passfield in February at Waitangi during the 183rd anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

PM Brown said: “We are pleased to be able to receive this visit by Dame Cynthia Kiro and her husband Dr Richard Davies, and their delegation.”

“The Cook Islands and Aotearoa New Zealand share an enduring relationship founded on our shared past papa’anga and people-to-people bonds and values, which have been codified through our special constitutional arrangements the 2021 Joint Centenary Declaration and the 2022 Waka Hourua/Vaka Purua Partnership.

“It was my pleasure to meet with Dame Cynthia Kiro in London last year, and we look forward to welcoming her to our shores.”