Pacific Islands News Association

News Feature : USP Journalism Student Awards recognise excellence in journalism [18/10/2018 - Fiji]
News Feature : ‘Virginity testing’: a human rights violation, with no scientific basis - UN [18/10/2018 - Brazil]
Business News : Banana breakthrough for Samoa [18/10/2018 - Samoa]
News : Voter instruction booklets to be distributed first to the islands, 764,850 ballot papers to be printed [18/10/2018 - Fiji]
News : Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs restored in 100 days under SODELPA - Rabuka [18/10/2018 - Fiji]
News : New Caledonia separatists 'confident' as referendum nears [18/10/2018 - New Caledonia]
News : ADF supports APEC security in Port Moresby [18/10/2018 - Australia]
News : Temaru set to be cleared in Tahiti election probe [18/10/2018 - French Polynesia]
Sports News : Australia vs Tonga Test sold out [17/10/2018 - New Zealand]
News Feature : Pacific met services play key role in informing health, food and water security, tourism, energy and disaster risk reduction [17/10/2018 - Fiji]
Business News : Tonga supports proposal for Pacific Islands labour mobility secretariat [17/10/2018 - Tonga]
News : Solomon Islands' forests felled fast to feed China demand: Global Witness [17/10/2018 - Solomon Islands]
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Country profile - Cook Islands

Cook Islands flag

The 15 volcanic islands and coral atolls of the Cook Islands are scattered over 770,000 square miles of the South Pacific, between American Samoa to the west and French Polynesia to the east.

A former British protectorate, the territory is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.

Its economy centres on tourism; the territory's natural assets include fine beaches and volcanic mountains.

More than twice as many native Cook Islanders live in New Zealand than live in the islands themselves. Most of them have left in search of a brighter economic future. As New Zealand citizens they can also live in Australia.

The government has encouraged islanders to return. Businesses have been involved in the drive. But the population level has continued to fall.

Black pearls are the chief export. Agriculture, the sale of fishing licences to foreign fleets and offshore finance are also key revenue earners.

The Cook Islands are prone to tropical storms; Hurricane Martin devastated the northern islands in 1997 causing substantial losses for the black pearl industry.

Named after Captain Cook, who explored them in 1773, the islands were once autonomous, home to tribes of mixed Polynesian ancestry. Governments still seek advice on matters of culture, custom and land ownership from a council of hereditary leaders known as the House of Ariki.

Additional information