Samoa will host the new Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus, (PACER Plus) headquarters following a successful bid to accommodate the regional office.
The successful bid was announced recently following the completion of the tender process.
Savali Newspaper reports Tonga, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu had also submitted proposals.
The construction for the complex is scheduled to start in December.
Meanwhile the regional PACER Plus agreement since negotiations started in 2009 has satisfied the minimum requirement for eight Pacific Forum Countries to endorse the trade pact.
PACER Plus needed eight ratifications from 12 countries in the Pacific in order to be approved.
On October 15, 2020, the Cook Islands signed the PACER Plus agreement and became the eighth Pacific island country to ratify it.
And the milestone has been applauded by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi who acknowledged the wisdom and long term vision by the eight signatories made in the best interest of their respective countries.
“This agreement will help local production thrive in the export markets, while at the same encourage affordable imports for the region,” he said.
Since 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has taken the lead on behalf of Government during the negotiation process.
MFAT’s Chief Executive Officer Peseta Noumea Simi announced Samoa’s successful bid before Cabinet Development Committee CDC elaborated on the PACER Plus spin-offs.
“Some of the benefits of PACER Plus to Samoa include no tariffs on our exports to Australia and New Zealand starting from the first day the agreement is official,” Peseta said.
“Within the next 25 years, the agreement will lower the costs of tariffs of imported goods into Samoa as well,” she added.
One such spin-off includes the commitment by Australia and New Zealand to remove import duties on all originating products from PACER Plus countries, when the agreement enters into force.
This would mean that Samoa’s exports will enter Australian and New Zealand markets duty free, provided the products originate from Samoa, according to the rule of origins.
“Overall, the agreement will cover; trade in goods (including rules of origin, customs procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary, technical regulations, standards and conformance), trade in services, investment and development and economic cooperation, transparency, consultation and dispute settlement,” said a press statement issued by MFAT.
PACER Plus is the regional trade, development and economic cooperation agreement between the Forum Island Countries, Australia and New Zealand.
Photo file Caption: A PACER Plus regional trade agreement signing ceremony