News Briefs

Rotary Youth Leadership Award
Patience Vainerere and Tekla Oti will be travelling to New Zealand on the 20th of this month, to take-part in a three week course for the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) Annual program. The course is also offered to participants in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti. They spoke with the Times on Thursday.
The program will involve leadership skills building and other attachments to the various areas of professional interests that the two girls’ have. The applications were handed out a month ago to Rotaracts and Youth groups such as Girl Guides and Girl Brigades. “One of my leaders in the Girl Guides told me about it and that I should apply. I’ve always wanted to go and experience life across the Pacific and learn from different cultures, it’s been a sort of passion of mine, “said Tekla. Rotary will be funding the girl’s fees and housing in New Zealand with the participants from the other Pacific countries. The group will be doing activities such as visits to Museums and the Maraes on Waiheke Island, also attending social events. Patience Vainerere, HIV program officer for the outer islands, says she hopes to gain a lot of knowledge and a boost in confidence from this experience, so she can come back and share her new found understanding and experiences with others in her professional area and to encourage those who wish to travel for programs such as the RYLA to do the same.

Cook Islands and Japan cement relations
History was made today in Japan when the Prime Minister, the Hon Henry Puna, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, H E Takeaki Matsumoto, entered into an Exchange of Letters for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Cook Islands and Japan. Pursuant to the Exchange of Letters, The Cook Islands and Japan agreed to exchange diplomatic envoys with the rank of ambassadors at the earliest possible date.
The Prime Minister explained that the Exchange of Letters served to formalize the relationship between the Cook Islands and Japan as two equal members of the international community. “That lays the foundation for widespread cooperation between our two countries in a wide range of areas and had been the objective of the Cook Islands for quite some time,” observed Puna.
While in Tokyo, the Prime Minister also held very fruitful discussions with the Japanese Prime Minister, H E Mr Naoto Kan, on numerous initiatives for potential future cooperation between the Cook Islands and Japan, including possible efforts to address climate change and sea level rise and the importance of promoting renewable energy to promote sustainable development.
In another historic development, earlier in the day, Prime Minister Puna accepted an invitation from Professor Naya, President of the prestigious Meiji University in Tokyo to address staff, students and others at the University on the Cook Islands and the environmental challenges faced by this country. Over 200 attended the lecture to learn about the country and how the Cook Islands was setting about addressing serious environmental challenges such as climate change, sea level rise and the need for alternative forms of energy generation. “The seeds have been sown for close co-operation between the Cook Islands and Meiji University on how best to promote sustainable development and address serious development challenges in the future,” explained the Prime Minister.-Foreign Affairs media release

Headlines : Times 290 02 March 2009
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