Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa

Fiame will join leaders of other Commonwealth countries for the meeting which is taking place this week..

The meeting will be formally opened on Friday by Prince Charles on behalf of the head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth who is unable to attend.

The opening ceremony will be followed by high-level meetings of heads of state on Friday and Saturday.

During the week delegates will attend ministerial meetings, four forums, side events and other activities.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced in a statement yesterday.

“Aotearoa New Zealand is first and foremost a Pacific nation and we value the strength of our relationship with our Pacific family. I am delighted that Prime Minister of Samoa’s first official bilateral overseas visit will be to New Zealand,” Ardern said.

Fiame gave the Peter Tali Coleman Lecture on Pacific Public Policy at Georgetown University in Washington, US as part of the Blue Pacific Future series.

In her address Fiame said "the work to reclaim the unity of the Pacific family" was in progress after the Micronesian block of nations initiated moves to leave the Pacific Islands Forum.

"It was an unfortunate situation," she said.

"But then you don't really know until it happens, and perhaps the leaders had not thought about the outcomes of taking particular decisions.

Samoa was the last place they docked, on 1 March.

This was announced by the Prime Minister in an interview with Government owned newspaper Savali over the weekend.

She said the American Samoa Government relayed this information to Samoa, after the crew members arrived in the US territory and had tested positive.

The Prime Minister explained that crew members from cargo vessels normally do not interact with front-liners, except for health workers.

“We need to stand united when it comes to the national safety and security of the country,” Fiame said. .

According to Savali newspaper, as of Monday this week, 69.9% of Samoans eligible to receive protection from the Covid-19 virus via the Astrazeneca vaccine completed their vaccination.

That represents 85,149 residents who have had their two doses of the vaccine.

At the same time, 95% or 115,807 Samoans eligible have had their first dose and need to complete their full vaccination by the end of November.