Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, said that while the Two Samoa talks are beneficial, “the problem is that there are certain issues where American Samoa has   limited authority, given they have to see if things coincide with federal laws.”

The announcement was made during a press conference following the Inter-Samoa talks held last week Friday between the two governments.

Tuilaepa was responding to questions by the media asking if the two governments had agreed on waiving the fees for the 14-day entry permit for Samoan citizens heading to American Samoa. The Prime Minister said they’ve yet to come to a conclusion because they have to look at the U.S. federal laws prior to giving a concrete answer.

He said during the press conference that this is the “problem” with the Samoa talks— that there are issues where American Samoa has limited authority.”

Tuilaepa said the American Samoa Government asked to give them two weeks to get back to Samoa on this particular issue (the 14-day entry permit fee).

“I told them no, don’t give it a deadline, in case they may need four months.  However, they just told us two weeks,” Tuilaepa said, adding, “ This is not a difficult task for us (Samoa) as we are an independent state, we can change it anytime we want.”

The Prime Minister was asked if the Samoa government had waived their entry fee for US Nationals along with the transit fee. Tuilaepa said not yet— as they are “waiting for American Samoa to get back to us about waiving the fee for the 14 day permit.”

Furthermore he said, “Remember, the only reason we imposed the entry fee and transit fee was because they (American Samoa) charged and increased the fee for the 14-day permit.”

Following the talks last Friday (Samoa time) the two leaders, Lt Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga and Tuilaepa agreed to endorse in principle a Trade and investment Agreement between the two Samoas.

According to the official agreement released following the meeting, a task force is to be established to draft the modalities for this agreement, which would form the basis for further discussions by both sides, with periodic reports to the leaders on progress. Samoa News notes that members of the task force were not identified in the agreement.

According to the official agreement, regarding immigration and legal issues, the issues discussed were the Certificate of identity (Cl) - American Samoa agreed to extend the validity of its CI from 6 to 12 months to comply with international travel requirements (airlines, immigration etc).

For the seizure of passports, the Samoa government sought an explanation as to why passports of its citizens were being held by American Samoa border officials on entering the Territory. American Samoa requested two weeks to look into this practice with the intention of resolving the seizure of Samoan passports.

Samoa News notes that during the press conference on this particular issue, Tuilaepa stated that when he discussed this matter, the American Samoa delegation stated they were not aware that passports were being seized.

Regarding the permit fees - American Samoa has agreed to remove the fee on its 14-day entry permit and Samoa agreed to consider reciprocating in kind. Both sides agreed to look at removing all permit fees to allow for free travel between the two Samoas.

Also included in the agreement was the Pacific immigration Directors Conference (PIDC) - Samoa being the current Chair of the PIDC encouraged American Samoa to accept the invitation that was extended to join.

 PIDC is an important forum for regional cooperation, information sharing and capacity building; is a good mechanism to pursue immigration & border issues of mutual interest. The agreement says that American Samoa requested information on PIDC to assist with its decision to join.

The Attorney General’s offices for both Samoa and American Samoa expressed continued interest in an exchange program between the two offices of the respective Attorneys General, particularly in those areas that will enhance mutual cooperation on matters of legal importance to the two Samoas for an exchange of attorney program.

Samoa and American Samoa have agreed to continue with negotiations on the Telecommunications Use Agreement for the newly proposed fibre optic undersea cable between the two Samoas. All the necessary requirements including financial and technical, should now be pursued vigorously to ensure they are implemented.

Also included in the agreement, was information on renewable energy, as both sides are investigating and developing renewable energy alternatives. “Samoa is making progress in solar, wind and even gasification and is keen to find out from American Samoa the progress being made with geothermal energy.  American Samoa investigation into geothermal energy is ongoing and Samoa is interested in any beneficial outcomes that may arise from these investigations.”

Regarding joint disaster preparedness, standardizing terminology for tsunami and cyclone warnings—American Samoa is concerned about the different terminology being used by the early warning systems in the two Samoas. American Samoa is again asking for uniform terminology for tsunami and weather forecasting and Samoa has agreed to consider the issue.

For tourism, the leaders are encouraged by continued engagement in joint tourism and marketing opportunities. In terms of sports, both sides expressed an interest in the revival of the Samoa Games. Regarding health, both sides acknowledged the importance of the ongoing collaboration and information sharing on health issues between the two Samoas, which led to the Bilateral Health Summit.  Now an annual event, this year the Summit will be held in American Samoa, where the two governments will share data and information to assist each other.