On Thursday 19 September, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management hosted a delegation of elected officials from the Republic of Palau. The Delegates and Senators (from Palau’s lower and upper house’s respectively) were here to learn about the VAT system of the Cook Islands – a system widely regarded as one of the best in the Pacific.

Palau and the Cook Islands share many similarities and can learn a lot from each other. We share a similar economic structure, population size, and relationship of free association with a partner country. In the past, officials from the Budget team at MFEM have travelled to Palau to share their knowledge about health related tax policy and multi-year budgeting. Going back further, the Compact of Free Association that Palau has with the USA is based on the same agreement that the Cook Islands has with New Zealand.

During their visit, the delegation met with officials from the Revenue Management Division in MFEM, the Budget and Economic team, the Prime Minister, Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, Telecom, the Chamber of Commerce, BTIB and the Tourism Industry Council.

The Cook Islands Government, through the Ministry of Finance, is in the process of establishing a 'Sovereign Wealth Fund' for the management of future revenues which may come from mining the Cook Islands sea bed. 

Minister for Finance, the Honourable Mark Brown outlined;

“The Sovereign Wealth Fund will be a fund for everyone in the Cook Islands. It is very important that we set up this fund correctly today so we can ensure the success of our nation moving into the future.