Cook Islands Deputy Prime Minister Sir Terepai Maoate was in New Zealand last week with other Cooks officials to meet with China’s ambassador.
The loan will be used for much needed infrastructure projects and upgrading which includes the Rarotonga water supply network and the rehabilitating and upgrading of all roads on Rarotonga.
Sir Terepai said a lot of these projects have been on the back burner for a number of years.
He also said their talks included the drawing down of grants promised by Beijing over the last years because past Cook Islands governments were not sure how to access them.
“We put projects together since we learned about what should have been done, we put all these projects together with some back up information to justify the request, and we have raised that with them,” he said.
Sir Terepai said additional funding has been provided for their preparations for the Mini-Games in September, which includes an all-weather track.
