New US Ambassador To New Zealand Says Cook Islands Is A Top Priority

Kaya Selby
RNZ Pacific journalist

The new US Ambassador to
New Zealand is introducing Donald Trump’s agenda of
“disruption” to the Pacific.

Jared Novelly arrived in
Wellington last week, and is expected to travel to Niue, the
Cook Islands and Samoa within the next month to present his
credentials.

A businessman and sports team owner, he
told a group of reporters on Friday that the Cook Islands,
with its seabed riches and its permissiveness for US
exploration, was “either 1a or 1b on my priority
list”.

“I’m going to spend quite a lot of time in the
Cooks,” Novelly said.

“Take something like cobalt …
90 percent of it is refined in China, and they control that
resource … it just so happens that the Cook Islands is one
of the richest, most vastest resources of that in their EEZ
on the seabed floor.”

But after more than a decade of
US exploration in the Cooks, and new agreements from the
beginning of the year, Novelly stopped short of saying
whether he would push for exploration licenses.

“It’s
something that I think is very potentially transformative
for the Cook Islands … but I don’t make Cook Island
laws.”

“I can introduce them to US companies that can
help, and I will definitely do that if allowed.”

It
was at his Senate confirmation hearing in March where
Novelly promised
that “all US businesses will have a friend in the
Ambassador’s office” in Wellington.

At that hearing,
he thanked the Cook Islands for their openness to “take our
long-standing relationship to the next level”, while
praising Samoa for their increased caution in taking on debt
with China.

In Wellington, he said that he would
promote that cautionary message for all Pacific
nations.

“China has made no bones about it, they want
a base in the Pacific.”

“The responsible thing for me
to do as a good friend to Pacific Islands that I speak to is
make sure that they realise that there can be strings
attached … that they know what a debt trap
is.”

Novelly praised his boss, who he “has a lot in
common” with, for being a “disruptor.”

The United
States has disrupted about $25 billion in global foreign
aid, and in it’s place, is pushing a “trade
over aid” platform that promotes free market reforms in
third world countries.

Novelly said that “just like we
talked about disruption, we’re gonna look at different ways
to do things”.

“Because remittances are so important
in a lot of these Pacific Island countries, and the fees on
that are so high. I want to look to try and see how I can
reduce those.

“There’s the ‘teach a man to fish versus
give them a fish’
thing.”

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