Fostering Understanding
Celebrating 50 years of Friendship with Samoa/ le Feagaiga Faauo
2012 marks both the 50th anniversary of Samoa’s independence and the 50th anniversary of the unique Treaty of Friendship between New Zealand and Samoa. To celebrate these two milestones, a full calendar year of events in Samoa and New Zealand is available under the banner Samoa 2012, facilitated by the Pacific Cooperation Foundation. Proposed activities include a film festival, a stamp series, a commemorative coin and the promotion of Samoan language week/ Taua le Gagana to be held the last week of May. The dedicated website is – www.samoa2012.co.nz
Submissions for inclusion on the website are invited and must be submitted by completing the Content Submission Form.
- By email – Complete form online and submit by email – info@samoa2012.co.nz
- By fax – Complete form online, print and fax to +64 9 3652494
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Online – Complete form online
Celebrating 50 years of Friendship with Samoa/ le Feagaiga Faauo
The Treaty of Friendship between New Zealand and Samoa was signed on 1 August 1962, seven months after Samoa achieved full independence. Samoa was the first Pacific Nation to gain independence and the only country with which New Zealand has a special Treaty of Friendship. SARAH CHANDLER from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade looks back on 50 years of friendship between the two nations.
Samoa was administered by New Zealand under a United Nations mandate for almost fifty years leading up to its independence in January 1962. Over the past fifty years, the two nations have grown together and now share a strong and fruitful relationship of equals.
Samoa has long been one of New Zealand’s oldest and closest friends. New Zealand has continued to support Samoa in a variety of ways since its independence and the Samoan people have played a big part in helping New Zealand become the culturally rich nation that it is.
The New Zealand High Commissioner John Bird Wright, who signed the Treaty with Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Mataafa Faumuina on 1 August 1962 spoke of how New Zealand envisaged the relationship as epitomised by the Treaty “… this Treaty is not one providing for the protection of a small and weak nation by a large and powerful one, for New Zealand is not one of the great powers of the world. It is, rather, an agreement of mutual cooperation and assistance between two South Pacific states which recognize that their people are already united by ties which no hand can sunder.”
Links between New Zealand and Samoa are now obvious in almost every area: civil service, church, trade, business, education, sport, defence and the arts. There is a regular programme of Ministerial and other visits to and from the partner nations. New Zealand is a second home for many Samoans, with more than 130,000 Samoans living in New Zealand, comprising around 50 per cent of this country’s Pacific Island population. The arts and culture of Samoan New Zealanders have become a distinctive voice in New Zealand society.
The close nature of New Zealand’s relationship with Samoa was nowhere more evident than in the tremendous response by New Zealand to the tsunami that struck Samoa in September 2009. On learning of the tsunami, the New Zealand Government pledged NZ$2 million to the immediate disaster relief effort, mobilized emergency personnel, and organized relief supplies and their transport. New Zealand and Australia each contributed A$5 million to the Government of Samoa to support its tsunami recovery and reconstruction efforts and another $4 million to help rebuild the tourism industry, which is considered vital to ensuring Samoa’s strong recovery from the disaster.
In the same spirit, the Samoan Government and people responded swiftly and generously in the wake of the September 2010 Canterbury quake, the October 2011 Pike River Mine disaster and the devastating February 2011 Christchurch quake. The solidarity and support between the two countries in difficult times is clear.
More recently, Samoa’s first full length feature film, The Orator (or O Le Tulafale) released in October last year, was financed by the New Zealand Film Commission with assistance from the Government of Samoa. The Orator was shot entirely in Samoa, in the Samoan language, with a Samoan cast and story.
Initiatives to strengthen the underpinnings of the Treaty of Friendship have occurred in several areas over the past fifty years, and will undoubtedly only grow stronger over the next fifty. The Treaty of Friendship has both symbolic and practical importance for Samoa and New Zealand and it is the corner-stone of New Zealand’s involvement in the 2012 celebrations.
“We are all looking forward to a year-long celebration of our special relations,” says Nick Hurley, New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Samoa. “It is the perfect moment to celebrate the contribution of Samoans to New Zealand and New Zealanders to Samoa.
“New Zealand’s cultural identity and many of its achievements reflect the contribution of Samoans – whether that is in the arts, literature, sport, film-making, music or a host of other areas. In 2012, we celebrate our shared success-stories.”
“A wonderful array of exciting events and activities is being planned,” he said. “Working with the Government of Samoa, we are planning a series of high-level visits between Samoa and New Zealand, as well as sporting events, publications, cultural exhibitions and performances.”
“But this year will also be a strong platform on which to build the next fifty years of a unique partnership. One which reinforces the mature nature of the relationship but will nevertheless be dynamic and growing as we face the challenges together of the 21st century.”
Ongoing Information on the 2012 celebration activities can be found at www.samoa2012.co.nz
