Samoa

The self-funded film Three Wise Cousins follows Adam, a 'fia-palagi', who turns to his two cousins in Samoa to teach him the ways of the islands, including how to climb a coconut tree and clear the land with a machete, in the hopes of impressing a girl.

At Auckland's Civic Theatre for the world premiere, the movie began on island time, and for the following 90 minutes, the audience overdosed on island humour.

The subsidies are a major concern of the American Samoa based US fishing fleet faced with stiff competition in the region from the Chinese fishing fleet that is subsidized by the Chinese government.

Fishing subsidies were among the issues on the agenda at last week’s 10th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, where Samoa — which became a WTO member in 2010 — was represented by a delegation led by Mene Sooalo, who is the Associate Minister of Commerce, Industry and Labour.

The draft document goes to the leaders of the two sides for endorsement at the next meeting of the two governments, now planned for either the first or second quarter of next year.

The CEO of the Samoa Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour, Peseta Margaret Malua, says one of the expected outcomes is a list of goods that each side wants to reduce excise taxes on when exported across the water.

This year, SSOL has been running Chinese language classes, with three volunteer tutors guiding local students of all ages and backgrounds.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi delivered the keynote address at a small ceremony held at MESC headquarters in Malifa.

"This is the first time the Chinese Embassy has opted to assist us with our rugby efforts, and we thank you for this donation to assist with our rugby developments," said Prime Minister Tuilaepa.

Ambassador Wang said the Chinese Embassy would like to do more and have greater cooperation with Samoa and rugby is another way for China to assist.

A government and business delegation from Samoa travelled to American Samoa last week for annual economic cooperation talks.

Our correspondent in Pago Pago, Monica Miller, says the talks appear to have gained more than most, with a pledge made to work on a trade and economic agreement to be signed at the next meeting.

The SRU agreed to implement governance, management and financial reforms following talks with the sport's governing body at the end of last year.

Since then a new CEO, High Performance boss, General Manager and National Sevens coach have been appointed, with the bulk of those roles being taken by people from outside Samoa.

The Vaiala Seawall was built as part of the “Enhancing Resilience to Climate Change” project financed by the Adaptation Fund and implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The claims were published in the Samoa Observer 17 December 2015 quoting MP Afualo as saying;

“We have an appropriation budget that is $9.1 million and revenue is only $8.5 million-an excess of $477,000.”

But in a press statement Lavea pointed out that this is a misconception because there is no excess as insinuated by the Opposition MP

 “The $477,000 represents savings which have been identified under the Parliamentary Pension Scheme Administration of $400,000 and $77,000 under the Ministry for Revenue.

The bureau was launched Thursday at a signing ceremony by its founding members and the Data Bureau (Samoa) Ltd. The founding members are ANZ Bank Samoa Ltd, National Bank of Samoa, Bank of the South Pacific (Samoa), Samoa Commercial Bank and the Development Bank of Samoa.