Tuesday 11 October 2011

The Hon Tom Marsters, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration has announced the appointment of Ms Tepaeru Hermann as the new First Secretary at the Cook Islands High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand.  She replaces Ms Sonya Kamana who has held that position since 2003.

The First Secretary is the senior diplomatic officer under the High Commissioner, Mr Tiki Matapo, responsible for assisting the High Commissioner in official dealings with the New Zealand Government and other governments with diplomatic missions based in Wellington.  Ms Hermann will assume her position this week.

“The appointment of Ms Hermann with the approval of Cabinet is an exciting development,” observed the DPM, “because it represents this Government’s commitment to the strengthening a professional Cook Islands foreign service.”  The Deputy Prime Minister explained that “as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration grows over the years and our relations with New Zealand and other countries deepen and diversify, we require more professional people to promote the Cook Islands’ international interests.  We look forward to more talented Cook Islanders being appointed to professional postings of our foreign service officials abroad.  Ms Hermann has demonstrated her professionalism and diplomatic experience over the years which will be most useful in Wellington.”

At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister wished to express Government’s appreciation to Ms Kamana for her faithful service to the Cook Islands High Commission over the years and wished her well for the future.