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New Zealand and the Cook Islands are working towards a travel bubble for May, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced.
The announcement was made during an official visit by Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown on Friday in Auckland at the War Memorial Musuem.
Brown said he was confident that trips without quarantine could be accomplished in that time frame.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown perform a hongi at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
“We are ready for business and look forward to the start in May,” he said.
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With the Cook Islands free from Covid, Ardern said the risk is that those leaving New Zealand will bring the virus to the Cook Islands, and the kiwis “have a lot of responsibility” to get it right.
Ryan Anderson / Stuff
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern waits to receive the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown.
Ardern said the government is currently working on the process of distributing vaccines to other countries.
He said the government is working with vaccine providers, with some liability issues that have yet to be resolved.
Ardern said that a bubble does not depend on widespread vaccination.
The two leaders met behind closed doors and discussed round-trip travel, the rollout of Covid-19 vaccination and protecting the livelihoods of the Cook Islanders until the borders were reopened.
Ardern said New Zealand had already committed to helping its kingdom neighbors with their vaccination programs, after purchasing enough vaccines for the Cooks, Tokelau and Niue.
He said his government would work to speed up the vaccination of cooks.
Brown became the first international leader officially received in the country since the coronavirus hit.
RYAN ANDERSON // Things
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown received a Maori welcome on the grounds of the Auckland War Memorial Museum by Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei, who delivered a challenge and a welcome.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei, who performed a challenge and powhiri, gave him a Maori welcome on Friday morning on the grounds of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
The Royal New Zealand Navy provided a 100-man honor guard.
Both leaders had targeted non-quarantine round trips by the end of March, but after two Level 3 lockdowns from the Auckland group in February, that was unlikely to happen.
RYAN ANDERSON // Things
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown arrives at the Auckland War Memorial Museum
One-way travel from Rarotonga, which began in January, is currently allowed with no quarantine required for newcomers to New Zealand.
Brown said before his arrival that he hoped to advance active round trip discussions in his discussions with Ardern.
He said he would work very hard to secure a new confirmed date for the round trip without quarantine.
RYAN ANDERSON // Things
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern waits on the steps of the Auckland War Memorial Museum to greet the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown.
“There is no one who wants those borders to open wider than me, as prime minister and as finance minister,” Brown said.
“I know better than anyone the costs our business community bears.”
The Cook Islands recently took another step to strengthen travel opportunities with the launch of its new contact tracing app, CookSafe +.
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Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown is received in New Zealand before a meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
It is compatible with the New Zealand Covid Tracer app.
Developed in conjunction with Rush Digital RUSH, the same software design and technology provider used by the New Zealand Ministry of Health to build its NZ Covid Tracer app, CookSafe + uses Bluetooth technology.
Pacific health expert Colin Tukuitonga said updating the Cook Islands tracking app is vital.
He had recently visited Rarotonga to assess its health structure and how New Zealand could help make non-quarantine round trips as safe as possible.
He said both governments already had controls to minimize spread, such as mandatory Covid-19-free results 96 hours before the trip and strict nightly isolation for flight crews.
David White / Stuff
A one-way travel bubble has opened, with the first flight from the Cook Islands landing at Auckland International Airport. (Video first published on January 21, 2021)
The Cook Islands government also established a new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory to enhance its testing capabilities for Covid-19.
Brown recently said the Cooks have asked the New Zealand government to supply Pfizer vaccines to its more than 17,000 citizens.
Although New Zealand has not confirmed the details of when they will arrive in the Cook Islands, Brown said they are ready to receive and begin their vaccination implementation.
