Japan-Cook Relations
Japan-Cook Islands Summit Meeting
(Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office)
(Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office)
On May 23, commencing at 2:43 p.m. for approximately 15 minutes, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minster of Japan, held a summit meeting with Hon. Henry Puna, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, who is visiting Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, to attend the 7th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM7). The outline of the meeting is as follows.
1. Prime Minister Abe welcomed the Prime Minister Puna’s participation in PALM7, who served as a co-chair at the last summit, PALM6. Prime Minister Abe expressed his gratitude for being able to host PALM7 in Iwaki City currently under robust reconstruction, which set a fitting start of a new partnership between Japan and the 14 Pacific Island Countries. Prime Minister Abe also added that he would like to leverage this opportunity to further strengthen Japan’s diplomatic relations with the Cook Islands, which has marked the fifth anniversary this year.
2. In response, Prime Minister Puna noted he was very honored to attend PAML 7, which ended in great success with the participation of Fiji, and that he was very pleased to see the reconstruction of Iwaki City.
3. Prime Minister Abe conveyed Japan’s intention to provide the Cook Islands with financial assistance of 100 million yen in the fields of climate change and disaster risk reduction, which will be Japan’s first full-fledged project for the country. Prime Minister Puna expressed his deep gratitude in response, and showed his determination to take the best advantage of Japan’s support for further development of the Cook Islands.
4. The two leaders also exchanged views on issues and cooperation in international arena including on climate change. Prime Minister Puna especially expressed his keen interest in cooperation with Japan in the field of renewable energy.