Cook Islands
In the Cook Islands, PSDI-supported reforms are making it easier to start, manage, and finance a business.
We have been working with the Government of Cook Islands to:
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Develop a secured transactions framework that will make it easier for lenders to accept movable assets as collateral;
- Design and develop an online domestic Companies, Incorporated Societies, and Personal Property Securities Registry, which launched in December 2019;
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Create clear and inclusive company laws, including the Companies Bill, which passed Cook Islands Parliament in December 2017, and became active with the December 2019 registry launch;
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Strengthen the financial position of Bank of Cook Islands, and build its capacity to identify and manage operational risks;
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Review the legislative, governance, and monitoring framework for Cook Islands’ SOEs; and
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Support reforms through advocacy and analysis, including a comprehensive assessment of the private sector published in 2015: The Cook Islands: Stronger Investment Climate for Sustainable Growth.
Resources and Spending
PSDI has increased its activity in the Cook Islands over the past few years, with almost one-third of the $1,459,028 in total funding spent in 2018–2019.
Spending on business law reform, which includes the development of an online companies registry and associated legal reform, accounts for 52% of all spending in the Cook Islands. Competition and Consumer Protection received the second highest proportion—20%—of overall allocations to Cook Islands. This included the preparation of a Telecommunications Bill and a Multi-sector Regulator Bill, which both passed Parliament in 2019.
On this website, $ refers to US dollars unless otherwise stated.
For detailed information on PSDI activities in the Cook Islands, download the 2022 PSDI Country Overview here.
Cook Islands at a glance
Modern, locally tailored business laws
Online business registrations
Secured transactions reform
Private sector assessment
Financial strengthening
Latest News
The Cook Islands Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has launched a secure and state-of-the-art registry for international entities, developed by the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI), with support from the Government of Australia.
PSDI has worked in partnership with local and international partners to shine a spotlight on the digital gender divide in the Pacific and call on governments to invest in affordable internet access and digital education to help bridge the gap.
PSDI on 19 July 2022 hosted almost 30 representatives of Cook Islands government ministries, state-owned enterprises, private-sector companies, and nongovernment organizations for the launch of Leadership Matters: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. Watch the video
PSDI is supporting the establishment of a multisector regulator in the Cook Islands to enable a coordinated approach to regulatory and competition reform.
PSDI's provision of critical technical support and resources to the Cook Islands helped bolster national resilience to shocks like COVID-19, an academic journal article has argued.
Almost 30 government, business, and civil society representatives in the Cook Islands have gathered to discuss the findings of PSDI's Leadership Matters study on women in Pacific business leadership.
Key Publications
