Cook Islands beneficiary of Belt and Road cooperation

During his meeting with Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown on Friday, Premier Li Qiang expressed China's willingness to strengthen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with the Polynesian island country, and advance mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as the maritime economy, infrastructure construction, agriculture and fisheries.

When China and the Cook Islands established diplomatic relations in 1997, their bilateral trade volume was $145,000. As a comparison, in the first ten months of 2023, the bilateral trade volume reached $12.27 million, a year-on-year increase of 9 percent.

That cooperation has been especially strengthened since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, which advocates infrastructure construction for the participant countries. For example in February 2014, a groundbreaking ceremony for a water supply project on the Oceanian country's Rarotonga Island was held, which was a tripartite cooperation project among China, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand. Only three years later, in February 2017, the construction work aided by China was successfully completed, and a handover ceremony was held.

Through cooperation with China, the Cook Islands have gained better infrastructure, which has promoted the diversified development of the local economy, thereby attracting more trade and investment opportunities.

Moreover, fishery is an important industry in the Cook Islands. The fishery industry of the Cook Islands can benefit from the huge consumer demand in the Chinese market and enter the global market more smoothly for their agricultural and fishery products and other specialties through China's ports and logistics.

The cooperation between the two sides in the tourism sector is also worth noting. Through cooperation with China, the Cook Islands will not only be able to attract a large number of Chinese tourists but also take this opportunity to enhance its competitiveness in the international tourism market.

China is genuinely imparting its own development experience to Pacific island countries like the Cook Islands. For example, in March 2024, trainees from 11 Pacific countries, including the Cook Islands, participated in a military cadet training course and brought back the technology of planting mushrooms and grasses, which can help conserve water and soil, and increase local residents' income.