5 Aug 2005

French Polynesian MP admires what Cooks has achieved in 40 years of independence

6:46 pm on 5 August 2005

A French Polynesian government politician, in Cook Islands for the 40th anniversary celebrations of Constitution Day, says the event takes away Tahiti's fears about the impacts of independence.

The Cooks has today marked the day that it became independent in free association with New Zealand in 1965.

Sabrina Birk, a member of Oscar Temaru's Tavini Huiraatira party, says such an arrangement would work in French Polynesia.

"I think it takes away our fear of sovereignty when we come here, because we see that the Cook Islands is very small. It looks a little like the little island of Huahine in Tahiti, and therefore we can see that a little island can be sovereign."