New deals
p. 49 · Read in the full issue
IT has been a heady time of late for Geoffrey Henry, the Prime Minis ter of the Cook Islands. Late July the Cook Islands began a two-week celebration of 25 years of self government that culminated in an offi cial ceremony on Constitution Day, Au gust 4.
During these celebrations, Henry was
making new plans for the development
of economic autonomy for the Cook Is lands. On August 2 and August 3 two new agreements were signed by the
Prime Minister. The first, said the Cook Island News , is an agreement with the United States for the US to develop a research and extension facility for com mercial blacklip pearl culture in the northern Cook Islands. The project will run over five years and will be based around a government farm that will be used for training, development and re search for Cook Islanders.
The second agreement is a delimita tion treaty between the Cook Islands and France regarding exclusive economic zones. It stipulates rights over areas where both French Polynesia and the Cook Islands zones overlap. □