20 Feb 2017

Niue Premier to be knighted at home by Governor General

8:25 pm on 20 February 2017

The New Zealand Governor General, Dame Patsy Reddy, is to visit the Cook Islands and Niue next month.

Dame Patsy Reddy at the report of the first independent review of intelligence and security in New Zealand.

Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

It will be Dame Patsy's first official visit to the two countries.

While in Niue she is expected to knight Premier Toke Talagi.

Mr Talagi, who has been premier since 2008, was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours.

He has suffered ill-health in the past year, having been medivacced from Niue to Auckland on two occasions.

Niue premier Toke Talagi at UN security council meeting in New York 31 July 2015.

The premier of Niue, Toke Talagi, addresses the United Nations Security Council at a meeting on peace and security issues facing Small Island Developing States. Photo: UN Photo/Evan Schneider