Samoa and Australia have signed a Bilateral Partnership Agreement – O le fala folasia i lo ta Va which will guide the renewed commitment to boost the Australia-Samoa links going forward.
This is Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afas first official visit as Prime Minister to Australia.
The Agreement was signed in Canberra yesterday by the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese and Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa.
In a joint statement released following the bilateral talks cited the closer cooperation the Partnership Arrangement will engender across the pillars of climate and disaster resilience, security cooperation, economic growth, human and socio-economic development and people-to-people linkages.
According to the statement, Fiame and Alabanese reflected the longstanding relationship between Australia and Samoa, underpinned by mutual respect and trust, reaffirming their strong partnership and commitment to work together on shared challenges and priorities to support a stable, prosperous and resilient Pacific region.
Regarding LABOUR MOBILITY Fiame and Alabanese also discussed how the Pacific-Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) program could best operate to ensure mutual benefit, including ensuring the program delivers for all Samoans.
Prime Minister Albanese welcomed the work underway to refine Samoa’s labour mobility policy settings and outlined the steps Australia was taking to ensure the scheme provided further opportunities for skills development.
The Prime Ministers agreed to reflect these developments in a Memorandum of Understanding that would guide the PALM partnership.
More from the bilateral talks in later bulletins
