PROPOSED MARITIME LAW ENFORCEMENT AGREEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000419 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE D FOR FRITZ, EAP/FO, EUR/RPM, EAP/ANP, INL/LP FOR GWELZANT, L-OES FOR JROACH, AND OES FOR WGIBBONS-FLY SUVA FOR REO JMURPHY NSC FOR VICTOR CHA SECDEF FOR OSD/ISD JESSICA POWERS PACOM FOR J01E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQ HOMELAND SECURITY FOR PAUL FUJIMURA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017 TAGS: EWWT KTIA PBTS PREL SNAR XB XV NZ CW SUBJECT: PROPOSED MARITIME LAW ENFORCEMENT AGREEMENT DELIVERED TO COOK ISLANDS HIGH COMMISSION REF: A. SECSTATE 70068 ¶B. WELLINGTON 316 Classified By: ADCM Katherine B. Hadda, for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) On June 7, Acting PolEcon Counselor and Poloff delivered to Sonya Kamana, Deputy High Commissioner, Cook Islands High Commission the proposed maritime law enforcement agreement (Ref A). Kamana positively received the agreement, and said she will share it with appropriate officials in Rarotonga. She will seek an expedited response from the GCI regarding its agreement in principle to the proposal, with more detailed comments to follow later. ¶2. (C) On June 6, Emboffs met with New Zealand MFAT's Pacific and Legal Divisions regarding the draft agreement. MFAT recommended that the U.S. approach the Cook Islands High Commission alone since the Cooks tend to be sensitive about their autonomy with respect to New Zealand. GNZ has already approached GCI regarding problems in their ship registration process following some illegal fishing done by CI registered vessels near Antarctica, and the GNZ wants to avoid the appearance of coming down as a "big brother." ¶3. (C) Comment: Kamana noted that Cooks Crowne Law has little legal capacity for absorbing the legislative load represented by the agreement. However, the MFAT officials we met with agreed that this could be a good area for joint U.S. and New Zealand bilateral, technical assistance. Ref B outlines some possible areas of joint assistance that could enable the Cooks to implement a proposed agreement. End Comment. MCCORMICK