Rice is paying a brief visit to New Zealand before meeting with the Pacific ministers in Samoa.
The minister will be accompanied to Samoa by Foreign Affairs Secretary Mike Mitchell.
After the meeting, Rasmussen plans to travel to Pago Pago for the second week of the Festival of Pacific Arts to support the Cook Islands delegation.
Before heading to Samoa though, Rasmussen is due to host the one-day Forum trade ministerial meeting in Rarotonga on July 22 before heading off the following day to Samoa.
The meeting is preceded by a trade officials’ meeting. The meetings are for the Forum member countries.
