New US ambassador to New Zealand says Cook Islands is a top priority

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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