HC Muktesh Pardeshi presents credentials to the Cook Islands
Following the recently announced accreditation to Cook Islands of New Zealand-based Indian High Commissioner Muktesh Pardeshi, High Commissioner presented his credentials in the Cook Islands on March 8.
High Commissioner Pardeshi presented credentials to the Queen’s Representative in the Cook Islands, Sir Tom Marsters at an official ceremony in capital Rarotonga.
Though India and the Cook Islands established diplomatic relations in 1998, the Cook Islands was accredited to the Indian High Commission in Suva, Fiji since 1999, when the office in Fiji was established. Since November 8 2021, it has been accredited to the Indian High Commission in New Zealand.
High Commissioner Pardeshi now represents India in five countries – New Zealand, Samoa, Niue, the Cook Islands and most recently Vanuatu.
High Commissioner Pardeshi also met with Cook Islands Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Tepaeru Herrmann during his visit.
In a statement, Herrmann said: “Our collaboration with India to date has focused on technology particularly through the Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT - housed at the University of the South Pacific (USP) campus on Rarotonga) and transformative grass roots social and economic investment.”
“Looking to the future, we see scope for further co-operation in information technology, creative industries (including film and digital economy), agriculture, health and trade and in multilateral fora such as the World Health Organization (WHO) the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and others where we have collaborated fruitfully for a number of years now.”
It has been 24 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Herrmann said.
A hallmark of Cook Islands-India bilateral cooperation, the CEIT, established in 2018, is a joint collaboration between the two governments that provides specialised training programmes in the fields of Information Communication and Technology (ICT). CEIT have in recent years delivered more than 10 programmes in country, graduating over 100 Cook Islands residents in the areas of network security, cyber forensics, office automation, business computing and advanced web technologies.
Through the India Grant Fund, India has pledged $569,000 towards various community-based education, health, water, sports and waste management initiatives to be delivered in the forward months with project implementation oversight to be provided by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management Development Coordination Division (DCD).
At present, some 30 citizens of India contribute to the Cook Islands economy and a further 100 or so citizens of Fiji of Indian descent are employed in the hospitality, ICT, financial services and transport sectors.
During his visit, High Commissioner Pardeshi is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Brown, Minister of Education Mac Mokoroa and senior Government officials from Agriculture, Transport and DCD. He will also meet with Indian nationals during the visit.
Following the recently announced accreditation to Cook Islands of New Zealand-based Indian High Commissioner Muktesh Pardeshi, High Commissioner presented his credentials in the Cook Islands on March 8.
High Commissioner Pardeshi presented credentials to the Queen’s Representative in the Cook...
Following the recently announced accreditation to Cook Islands of New Zealand-based Indian High Commissioner Muktesh Pardeshi, High Commissioner presented his credentials in the Cook Islands on March 8.
High Commissioner Pardeshi presented credentials to the Queen’s Representative in the Cook Islands, Sir Tom Marsters at an official ceremony in capital Rarotonga.
Though India and the Cook Islands established diplomatic relations in 1998, the Cook Islands was accredited to the Indian High Commission in Suva, Fiji since 1999, when the office in Fiji was established. Since November 8 2021, it has been accredited to the Indian High Commission in New Zealand.
High Commissioner Pardeshi now represents India in five countries – New Zealand, Samoa, Niue, the Cook Islands and most recently Vanuatu.
High Commissioner Pardeshi also met with Cook Islands Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Tepaeru Herrmann during his visit.
In a statement, Herrmann said: “Our collaboration with India to date has focused on technology particularly through the Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT - housed at the University of the South Pacific (USP) campus on Rarotonga) and transformative grass roots social and economic investment.”
“Looking to the future, we see scope for further co-operation in information technology, creative industries (including film and digital economy), agriculture, health and trade and in multilateral fora such as the World Health Organization (WHO) the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and others where we have collaborated fruitfully for a number of years now.”
It has been 24 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Herrmann said.
A hallmark of Cook Islands-India bilateral cooperation, the CEIT, established in 2018, is a joint collaboration between the two governments that provides specialised training programmes in the fields of Information Communication and Technology (ICT). CEIT have in recent years delivered more than 10 programmes in country, graduating over 100 Cook Islands residents in the areas of network security, cyber forensics, office automation, business computing and advanced web technologies.
Through the India Grant Fund, India has pledged $569,000 towards various community-based education, health, water, sports and waste management initiatives to be delivered in the forward months with project implementation oversight to be provided by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management Development Coordination Division (DCD).
At present, some 30 citizens of India contribute to the Cook Islands economy and a further 100 or so citizens of Fiji of Indian descent are employed in the hospitality, ICT, financial services and transport sectors.
During his visit, High Commissioner Pardeshi is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Brown, Minister of Education Mac Mokoroa and senior Government officials from Agriculture, Transport and DCD. He will also meet with Indian nationals during the visit.
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