United States eyes deeper ties with Cook Islands, help businesses form ties

By Talaia Mika, Cook Islands News

The US delegation during their meeting with Cook Islands Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Tepaeru Herrmann. US EMBASSY NZ/25080817 Photo: US Embassy NZ

The United States is looking to build stronger ties with the Cook Islands following a historic diplomatic visit this week by its Chargé d'Affaires, David Gehrenbeck, who met with Prime Minister Mark Brown during the nation's 60th anniversary of self-governance.

In an interview with Cook Islands News, Gehrenbeck said the US Commercial Service teams based in Wellington and Auckland are ready to assist businesses interested in forming ties.

"In our Mission in New Zealand, both at our embassy in Wellington and at our consulate in Auckland, we have an office of the Commercial Service and their job is to work with companies who are interested in getting involved with the United States."

Gehrenbeck said this week's meeting with Prime Minister Brown included discussions on tourism development, economic promotion and ongoing cooperation.

The meeting with PM Brown was also attended by David Copley, a former mining executive who is now a senior director at the US National Security Council, and Joshua Kroon, the Department of Commerce's deputy assistant secretary for textiles, consumer goods, materials, critical minerals and metals.

After the meeting, the two countries announced the cooperation to advance scientific research and the responsible development of seabed mineral resources.

Gehrenbeck said: "Tourism development, for example, we understand that's a very important part of the Cook Islands economy and there is this flight between here and Honolulu and actually some members of our delegation took that flight and so we want to just identify ways that we can work together to make sure that there's full awareness in the United States of the Cook Islands."

"I know there were other flights - there was an LA flight at one time - and so, this is an amazing place and so we're happy to talk, continue that conversation about finding ways that we can work together."

On economic cooperation, Gehrenbeck said there is already growing interest.

"We understand that there's a local company that just opened a store in Honolulu and we are interested in identifying further ways for our companies to connect.

"Cook Islands is not a large market, but it is a very compelling one and so there probably are some good opportunities for us to work together on that."

Gehrenbeck described the meeting with the Prime Minister as "another step in that ongoing relationship with the Cook Islands," and a valuable opportunity to reflect on shared history and future collaboration.

"I've heard many stories of people who have memories or whose ancestors have memories of World War Two when US forces built airstrip, for example, in Penrhyn at the far north and I think Aitutaki as well. And then they helped with the port in Pukapuka and so those memories are still very much alive. So it was very nice for me to hear about that kind of long-term historical connection that we have with the Cooks."

While this marks Gehrenbeck's first visit to the country in his role, he noted the US has had various forms of engagement over many years, including maritime cooperation, education exchanges and youth leadership development.

"We've been actively engaged for a long time. So we've had a shiprider agreement which allows the Coast Guard to work with officials from the Cook Islands to enforce Cook Islands laws in that space, in the fisheries, for example. That's been since 2008," he said.

"Our Secretary of State came and visited in 2012 and around 2013 we started this programme - the Young Pacific Leaders - which is not just Cook Islands, it's the entire region and we bring young leaders from all over the Pacific together to meet each other but also to develop their capacity to be the future leaders of their countries, including the Cooks.

"So we've had dozens of people go on that programme, we've had a number of other exchange programmes, we do small grants to promote entrepreneurship, to promote STEM education, capacity building and things like that."

The US-Cook Islands relationship took a formal step forward when diplomatic ties between the two countries was officially established in late 2023.

"That was another big step forward in our relationship because we wanted to continue to develop that," Gehrenbeck said.

While the visit focused on strengthening current ties, Gehrenbeck said the meeting was ultimately about continuing the momentum of an evolving relationship.

"Our meeting with the Prime Minister was just another step in that ongoing relationship with the Cook Islands to talk about kind of where we've been and then what we can continue to work on."

-Cook Islands News