Tonga makes friends with Iceland [1]
Friday, January 11, 2008 - 17:34. Updated on Wednesday, July 22, 2015 - 09:47.
The Kingdom of Tonga and the Republic of Iceland formalized their diplomatic relations on December 14, 2007 in New York at the residence of the Permanent Representative of Iceland to the United Nations, H.E. Mrs. H. W. Hannesson.
A joint communique was signed by H.E. Mrs Fekita 'Utoikamanu for the Tonga government and H.E. Mrs. H. W. Hannesson for the government of lceland.
Va'inga Tone, the Chief Secretary for Tonga's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said this morning that the accreditation of representatives to each country would follow at a later date.
He said that the two countries have one thing in common, they are both island nations, but a more important consideration was that in the UN, "you count on the vote of your friend if you want one of your nationals to be a member of one of the UN bodies, such as WHO or UNESCO."