The Treaty between the United States of America and the Cook Islands on Friendship and Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary was signed at Rarotonga on 11 June 1980 by Anne C. Martindell, for the United States Government, and Thomas Davis, for the Government of the Cook Islands, in duplicate, in English and Maori, English being the authentic text. It is not the Treaty of Tokehega. The preamble invokes the Cook Islands Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone Act of 1977 and the United States Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, and notes the American claim to sovereignty over Pukapuka (Danger), Manihiki, Rakahanga and Penrhyn, which the Cook Islands had not recognized.

Article 1: the maritime boundary is determined by the geodetic lines connecting the listed coordinates; Wikipedia describes it as an equidistant line between the nearest islands, 566 nautical miles long, with twenty-five points. Article 2: the geodetic base is the World Geodetic System 1972, plus the charts and aerial plans cited. A point-by-point itinerary or a delimitation handbook is not set out here. Article 3: on the side of the boundary adjacent to the Cook Islands the United States shall not, and on the side adjacent to American Samoa the Cook Islands shall not, claim or exercise for any purpose sovereign rights or jurisdiction over the waters or seabed and subsoil.

Article 4: the boundary shall not affect or prejudice any government's position with respect to the rules of international law concerning jurisdiction over the waters or seabed and subsoil or any other matter relating to the law of the sea. Article 5: the United States recognizes the sovereignty of the Cook Islands over Penrhyn, Pukapuka (Danger), Manihiki and Rakahanga. Article 6: cooperation with a view to promoting social and economic development in the Cook Islands and the advancement of the South Pacific region, in particular between the peoples of the Cook Islands and American Samoa.

Article 7: subject to ratification; it enters into force on the date of the exchange of instruments. Those were exchanged, also at Rarotonga, on 8 September 1983. The United States Senate gave its advice and consent on 21 June 1983; the President ratified on 16 August; the Cook Islands ratified on the day of the exchange. TIAS 10774; registered with the United Nations as No. 28971. The Cook Islands were in free association with New Zealand; Wellington confirmed competence to conclude the treaty.

Cover: the Ministry of Justice building in Avarua, Rarotonga, city of the ceremony; we do not claim the hall. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Cook Islands–United States Maritime Boundary Treaty; Treaty on Friendship and Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary (UN DOALOS).