Your Excellency Ran Yaakoby & Mrs Yaakoby Ministers of Cabinet
Members of the Diplomatic Corps Ladies & Gentlemen
I am happy to join you all in welcoming to Samoa the Ambassador of Israel to Samoa in the celebration of the presentation of his Letters of Credence to the Member of the Council of Deputies earlier today.
Samoa established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1977. Through the United Nations and other international fora, Samoa and Israel have worked collaboratively to promote issues of mutual interest such as maintaining prosperity, peace and security. We also share common interest in addressing challenges in the areas of sustainable development, human rights, poverty, terrorism, transnational crime and climate change.
We are aware Israel is willing to share its experience as a country advanced in ingenuity, creativity and innovation, in fields such as agro-technology, public health, food security, water management, education, irrigation, green energy and cyber technology with developing countries such as Samoa.
In 2017, Samoa supported the Government of Israel’s request to become a full member of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
There have been many opportunities for high-level visits to Israel including pilgrimages by faith based groups and individuals
In 2018 a visa waiver agreement was signed in Jerusalem during the visit of a former prime minister from Samoa. A diplomatic Note to the Embassy of Israel advising the completion of internal procedures for the visa waiver agreement to enter into force, was sent in April this year. And we anticipate, the visa waiver will enter into force on July 6 2023.
Israel has provided training in a range of fields, namely health and nutrition, agri- business, empowerment of women to name a few. In 2018, 13 Pacific Island Journalists including Samoa toured Israel in 2018. This was the first time in the State’s 50 years since it became independent, a group of media practitioners from print, radio and television in the Pacific could visit and see Israel through their own eyes. In January 2022, a Regional Training Program for participants from Pacific Island countries on Agricultural Extension Methods and Tools was organized by MASHAV’s Agricultural Training Centre under the framework of the Israel-Pacific Food Security Alliance Program. Ten senior level officers from MAF and SROS completed Israeli Agriculture Innovation Training aimed at improving delivery of agriculture extension services and introducing new Irrigation and Fertigation Technology to boost farmers’ production and productivity.
While post graduate scholarships were available to all the Pacific countries and a wide range of fields, there was little uptake as it was difficult to find funds for travel costs as the scholarships did not cover these related costs.
In 2019-2020, an Israeli medical team was mobilised to help Samoa meet the challenges of the tragic measles epidemic. In total 45 medical teams were mobilised from 15 different countries including Israel.
Every year at the United Nations, there are usually quite a number of UN resolutions that refer to the Israel-Palestine issue. Samoa’s position on each resolution depends on the nature of each, our consistent position on some of the issues and that the resolution does not undermine the two states solution approach.
Excellency we welcome you to Samoa and we look forward to strengthened relations between our two countries.
Soifua
