The just retired prime minister of the Cook Islands says he's left office ruing the lack of progress on signing up to the United Nations.
Henry Puna was replaced by Mark Brown last week in what the former leader said was an orderly transition he had planned for two years.
During his 10 years as prime minister, Puna had sought several times for New Zealand's backing for the Cooks' to take a bigger role on the world stage, especially joining the UN.
Former Cook Islands Prime Minister, Henry Puna, was elected Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum in 2021. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
New Zealand's position was always that the Cook Islanders would first need to surrender their right to New Zealand citizenship.
But Puna still believed this issue could be resolved by sitting down and having a mature discussion.
"Because as we move toward self-dependence, the UN is very much an important forum for any country heading in that direction, and we thought that maybe the time is right that we should explore that, but I'm disappointed thast previous New Zealand Governments have not given us the opportunity to have a serious chat with them."