Honolulu Now A Sister City With Avarua In The Cook Islands
An agreement was signed during the FestPAC 2024 festivities.
Honolulu officials on Friday announced that they had reached a Sister City agreement with the capital of a Pacific island nation.
Avarua is on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
The agreement, reached at the Hawaii Convention Center, is the 37th Sister City partnership for the City and County of Honolulu.
It is also the second Sister City relationship with an island country in Polynesia and the first to be established under Sister Cities International鈥檚 “7 for 70 Program.” The initiative, according to a press release from the Blangiardi administration, is supported by the U.S. Department of State and the White House National Security Council.
The program commemorates the 70th anniversary of Sister Cities International by establishing seven new Sister City relationships in the Pacific Islands by 2026 “that promote international peace and understanding.”
“This historic agreement is more than a formality; it represents a heartfelt commitment to building bridges and deepening our ties across the Pacific,” Mayor Rick Blangiardi said in a statement. “With our shared Polynesian roots and values, this partnership feels like a reunion of extended ohana. I am genuinely excited about the meaningful cultural exchanges, collaborative economic ventures and environmental initiatives that will strengthen both our communities.”
The signing took place during the opening of the Festival Village, part of , the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture. It is being held for the first time in Hawaii.
Prime Minister Mark Brown of the Cook Islands and Tou Travel Ariki, president of the House of Ariki, signed on behalf of the Cook Islands.
“I cannot tell you how important this initiative is going to be as we move forward,” said Kurt Campbell, deputy Secretary of State. “We will do everything possible at the State Department to build more of these, to make sure that they are sustaining, to make sure that they are strong and they connect us in ways that cannot be broken into the future.”
Prime Minister Mark Brown said, “Our friendship between our people is like the strands of the fiber in the woven net. This friendship extends from the highest of our of people down to the lowest of our people and that closeness brings together all of our people.”
