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Tuilaepa says there will be no concessions for StarKist

APIA, Samoa — “No, that will not happen,” was Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Lupesoliai Malielegaoi’s response to the request made by StarKist Samoa to waive the taxes for their canned tuna to be sold in independent Samoa.

 

StarKist Samoa’s General manager Bret Butler had sought assistance from the Director of Commerce Keniseli Lafaele to include this item in the Inter Samoa talks, which were held yesterday.  StarKist hoped to sell their tuna in Samoa’s market claiming that American Samoa’s market is a small market. (Full story of Bret Butler’s request in yesterday’s Samoa News.)

 

In an exclusive interview with Samoa News on Thursday (American Samoa’s Wednesday) Tuilaepa said Samoa’s government would not waive its fees for StarKist, because “that means we will have to waive it for every business that wants to earn money from us. No, that will not happen,” said Tuilaepa.

 

Samoa News notes that Tuilaepa mentioned StarKist earlier when he was asked about the status of the memorandum of understanding with the Bumble Bee Company.

 

Samoa’s Prime Minister did not mince words, saying that several years back officials with StarKist (the former owners of StarKist) “came to Samoa and attempted to fool us as if we were fools. They used us in their political agenda, telling Tutuila they were moving here to Asau… liars… that did not happen.

 

“They came here, we took them to Savai’i, to Asau and they said Asau is nice, but when they left, that was the last of it, we never heard from them… because they are liars,” said Tuilaepa. He emphasized that Bumble Bee officials are “not liars like StarKist.”

 

Samoa News asked Tuilaepa if this was the reason why he would not consider waiving the tax for StarKist, but the PM said “no— it’s just business.”

 

Tuilaepa told Samoa News that the MOU with Bumble Bee was to be signed (yesterday) however Samoa News and Samoa’s media went to his office to witness the signing, but were told that it had been cancelled as the PM needed to finalize some issues regarding the MOU.

 

However an official with the Prime Minister’s Office told Samoa News that the Bumble Bee official who was in Samoa had left on Tuesday, after he had signed off on the MOU. The official said that once Tuilaepa signs the MOU it will be scanned and sent over to Bumble Bee’s main office in California.