To the Parliamentary colleagues from Tasmania;
The Chairman and Members of the Australia – Pacific Security College,
Advisory Board;
High Commissioner of Australia;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Excellencies and Distinguished Guests;
Especially Rev. Siaosi Salesulu;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Talofa Lava and Good evening.
It is a pleasure for me to say a few words tonight on the occasion of
welcoming the visits by the Members of the Tasmanian Parliament
together with members of the Australia-Pacific Security College Advisory
Board. I extend to all of you a warm welcome to Samoa and I have the
opportunity to have a meeting with our Tasmanian colleagues, I hope you
enjoy your visit. I would also like to thank the High Commissioner, Her
Excellency Emily Luck for hosting tonight’s event in honour of our guests.
Tonight’s occasion is two-fold.
Firstly, we are honoured to receive members of Parliament from Tasmania
and I am pleased to see the continued strengthening of relations and
collaboration between our parliamentarians through the Pacific
Parliamentary Partnerships program by Australia. In particular, the
“twinning” arrangements between Samoa and Tasmanian parliaments
that was established in 2007 has provided opportunities for the exchange
of experts, whose experiences, knowledge and insight on how different
procedures were dealt with in their Parliament were shared.

Our Office of the Legislative Assembly has benefitted from the Twinning
Program over the years through capacity building and training programs
to strengthen Parliamentarians and staff through sharing and transfer of
skills and knowledge. This is an area that we would like to see continued
to support the work of the Legislative. I thank the people and Government
of Australia for this ongoing assistance.
Secondly, I am very pleased to acknowledge the presence of the Members
of the Advisory Board of the Pacific Security College, who are meeting in
Apia this week for the first time. The eminent members of this Advisory
Board will be familiar to many of us, having worked in, as well as
represented our Pacific governments in various distinguished and
prominent roles, including in regional and multilateral organisations, and
academia, amongst others. On the whole, the expertise, knowledge and
experience of the Advisory Board members combined, are exceptional and
noteworthy.
There is no doubt in my mind as to your collective abilities to inform and
strengthen the work of the College in support of the Pacific Islands Forum
Leaders’ Boe Declaration on Regional Security and the 2050 Strategy for
the Blue Pacific Continent. Notwithstanding the different outlooks and
discourses on politics and security, it is worth repeating that we strongly
believe in being a part of a Blue Pacific continent that is free from military
competition, and free from unrest and war that affect many other parts
of the globe.
I thank the College for the support and assistance provided to Samoa by
way of collaborative learning and knowledge sharing courses and
initiatives, as well as in strategic analysis. I am also pleased to learn that
some of the College’s courses will be delivered in both executive education
and micro-credential mode from 2024. These will help to further upskill
our officials’ capacities to better understand and inform our national
security needs, policies and legislations cognisant of the diverse and
complex landscape of our Blue Pacific, which in turn will strengthen
national and regional capabilities and responses to a blend of traditional
and non-traditional security issues.

We do look forward to continuing our engagement with the College, and
I take this opportunity to convey our best wishes for a successful meeting
and deliberations by the Advisory Board.
I like to conclude by inviting you all to raise your glasses to the wonderful
partnerships between Australia and Samaoa.
Ia manuia!