New Zealand says its ties with its Realm countries remain strong and stable

New Zealand says its connections to its Realm countries remain strong and stable, after the first of a series of annual “family reunions”.

Christopher Luxon met with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, Niue’s Prime Minister Dalton Tagelagi and the Ulu-o-Tokelau Alapati Tavite in Government House this morning, ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Palau next week.

The Realm countries will ride together this weekend to Palau for the Pacific Island Forum leaders summit next week.

“We’ve got a hundred and forty thousand Cook Islanders, Niueans, Tokelauans, living here in New Zealand,” Luxon told reporters.

“We’ve got deep connectivity between our four countries, and so it’s really important, in a volatile and uncertain world.. what more (New Zealand) can be doing.”

When the year began, the relationship between New Zealand and the Cook Islands was frosty. The Cooks had struck out in late 2024, signing a security deal with China that New Zealand hadn’t approved of.

Amidst a myriad of issues, a breakdown in communications led to a breakdown in trust, leading to a cut in aid only restored earlier this year. Now, Prime Minister Luxon said it’s sorted.

“We’ve normalised our relationship, and we sorted the issues of the last year or so out,” he said.

Brown said one of the earlier sore points, a Cook Islands passport, has been laid to rest.

“That’s no longer part of our discussions at the moment,” he said.

“The Cook Islands has pretty well established itself internationally as a country, and as citizens of New Zealand and increasingly Australia, that’s where our status is right now.”

Prime Minister Tagelagi echoed this sentiment for his own country.

“If anything, we are so grateful for the New Zealand support, but the Pacific needs to reach out further,” he said, “so we don’t always have to rely on New Zealand.”

For it’s part, the Cooks are fielding an unprecedented level of interest from another global superpower – the United States.

The US has made no secret of it’s deep sea mining ambitions in the Clarion Clipperton Zone. Where this leads their relationship with Aotearoa remains to be seen, but Prime Minister Brown insists he will ensure his country benefits from any future activity.

“Decisions made on our seabed and our resources are made by the Cook Islands for the interest of Cook Islanders only.”

“The Cook Islands is looking very closely at how we as a country would benefit if we moved down the road of extraction.”

In a far less fortunate position is Tokelau.

The territory was expelled from the lucrative Parties to the Nauru Agreement Vessel Day Scheme in February, and estimates of the ensuing revenue losses are massive. RNZ has previously reported that New Zealand may have a played a role in getting Tokelau kicked out, thanks to interference in Tokelau’s fisheries.

Prime Minister Luxon denied this, saying that between them, they were “putting a full court press” to get them reinstated, particularly with an appeal to PNA members in Palau next week.

Following the meeting, only Tokelau’s leader was unavailable to speak to media.