Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi on Friday morning signed a sister-city agreement with Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
The agreement marks the first in partnership with Sister Cities International’s “7 for 70 Program” — backed by the U.S. Department of State and the White House National Security Council under the Biden administration.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell attended the sister-city signing at the Hawai‘i Convention Center during the Festival of Pacific Arts &Culture to “celebrate and help launch” the program “to help foster our Pacific partner strategy, which is really designed multifaceted initiatives to bring us together,” he said.
The White House announced in September that the “United States intends to form at least seven sister cities partnerships with other Pacific Islands by 2026 in celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Sister Cities International.”
According to Campbell, the effort starts with Rarotonga.
“Many countries in Europe have a lot of stuff going on, and their sister cities are important, but in the Pacific they are essential,” Campbell said. “The commitments that we’re making, connecting the peoples domestically in the United States with the peoples of the Pacific, will basically shape and change relationships between our peoples over time.”
Blangiardi expressed pride in Honolulu being the first city to participate in the “7 for 70” initiative, stating that it sets a hopeful example for others to follow.
He also said that the sister- city signing represents more than just a formal alliance; it symbolizes a “heartfelt bond of friendship and cooperation that bridges oceans and unites our cultures.”
Blangiardi was accompanied by Honolulu Council Chair Tommy Waters, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown and President of the House of Ariki Tou Travel Ariki.
This year’s FestPAC theme, “Ho‘oulu Lahui: Regenerating Oceania,” made the sister-city signing fitting, according to Brown.
“This is a historic occasion for the Cook Islands,” Brown said. “I’m glad that we’re able to schedule this signing ceremony to coincide with the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts.”
The Cook Islands delegates presented Blangiardi with a woven pandanus mat, an embroidered “tivaevae” quilt, an “atamira” chiefly seat, a ceremonial “korare” spear and a Cook Islands Bible.
“It is a message for you to consider in our sacred prayer that our friendship between our people be like the strands of the fiber in the woven mat, that this friendship extends from the highest of our people down to the lowest of our people,” Brown said.
“The ties that bind the Maori of the Cook Islands and the Maoli of Hawaii go back generations. These ties manifest in the centuries-old shared ocean voyage and exploration fleets of the Polynesian people that thrive, still, to present day.”
Brown said he’s confident that this signing “will serve to further enrich and deepen the areas of cooperation between our peoples.”
Last week Sister City International announced its intention to pursue partnerships with three cities in Papua New Guinea: Port Moresby and Long Beach, Calif.; Lae and Charleston, S.C.; and Madang and Poplar, Wis.
On Monday, Madang officially began its international cooperation with Poplar by signing an “Intent to Partner” Memorandum of Understanding.
“You wouldn’t normally think they would go together, but it’s a wonderful connection,” Campbell said. “And we want to do more of this as we go forward.”
“We’re hoping to leverage the opportunities that have been created here at FestPAC to pursue potential future partnerships. If people have an idea or a suggestion for a new connection we can make, we’re all up for ideas and initiatives to move forward.”
Campbell said the State Department will do everything possible “to build more of these to make sure that they’re sustaining, to make sure that they are strong and they connect us in ways that cannot be broken into the future.”
