New Zealand and Cook Islands sign Defence & Security Declaration

New Zealand and the Cook Islands have signed a Defence & Security Declaration in Rarotonga today, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.

"New Zealand and the Cook Islands have a special constitutional relationship which has endured for six decades," Mr Peters says.

"Today's Declaration is about setting a course together for the future. The strategic environment we face is more complex and contested today than at any other point since New Zealand and the Cook Islands formed our free association relationship in 1965.

"In that context, it's vital that New Zealand and the Cook Islands are clear, with one another and third parties, about the nature of our special relationship and our responsibilities to one another in the defence and security domains.

"This Declaration outlines a set of important political commitments that the Cook Islands and New Zealand have made to one another which provide clarity on key aspects of our special constitutional relationship.

"It's no secret that our two governments have had a series of serious disagreements since late 2024," Mr Peters says. "As we debated how to get past these disagreements, it became clear that one of their root causes was the lack of a shared understanding about the requirements of our special constitutional relationship – especially as it pertained to defence and security matters and the extent of the consultation required between us.

"This Declaration resolves this former ambiguity and provides clarity to both Governments so that we can move forward focused on the future, not the past."

The Declaration adds to the other important expressions of the New Zealand-Cook Islands relationship: the Cook Islands Constitution, the exchange of letters between Prime Ministers Norman Kirk and Albert Henry in 1973, the Letters Patent of 1983 and the Joint Centenary Declaration of 2001.

New Zealand's paused financial support to the Cook Islands will be restored following today's Declaration signing.

"We earlier took a difficult decision to pause parts of New Zealand's funding to the Cook Islands Government because there was no shared understanding of the nature of our special constitutional relationship. Now that we have come to a mutually satisfactory understanding of the underpinnings of our partnership, we are pleased to normalise all aspects of our relationship – including New Zealand's financial support.

"New Zealand and the Cook Islands people benefit from our special constitutional relationship. We look forward now to further enhancing the broad range of cooperation between New Zealand and the Cook Islands," Mr Peters says.

Key commitments in the Declaration include: the Cook Islands upholding the defence and security interests of New Zealand; continued New Zealand Defence Force access to Cook Islands territory; and New Zealand remaining the primary defence and security partner for the Cook Islands. Both countries committed not to enter into activities or arrangements with other partners that would undermine these commitments.