Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 16 November 2023 — Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration (MFAI) the Honourable Mark Brown, confirmed the appointment of Ms Chere Arthur as Principal Immigration Officer earlier this month.
Ms Arthur joined MFAI over six years ago as Immigration Operations Manager and has delivered Principal Immigration Officer responsibilities in an acting capacity since April 2023. She was the successful applicant in the recent recruitment round for the Principal Immigration Officer role.
“The legislative and operational responsibilities of the Principal Immigration Officer require public service leaders with sound understanding of the Immigration legislation and regulations, a patriotic passion for protecting our Cook Islands interests including supporting inwards entry and stay of those from beyond the Cook Islands to support our economic and social development priorities, and relationship management skills across a broad spectrum of diverse community, national and international stakeholders,” said Foreign Affairs and Immigration Secretary, Tepaeru Herrmann.
“Ms Arthur had demonstrated those capabilities and commitment in her service delivery with MFAI to date, having been part of the core Ministry leadership over the last six years that have driven innovative reforms to the delivery of MFAI immigration services and cultivated a working environment staff are proud to be part of, while continuing to cultivate key relationships with the private sector, inter-government, community, and international partners.”
Amongst Ms Arthur’s key deliverables as Principal Immigration Officer will be the continued embedding of the new immigration regulations into the immigration division’s standard operating procedures and progressing to completion, with support from New Zealand Immigration and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the upgrade to MFAI’s electronic border management system.