Happy New Year, Samoa!

With the dusk slowly ebbing away, the first lights begin to seep through illuminating the dawning of a New Day, heralding our safe arrival on this very First day, the commencement of our voyage for this New Year.

As most fitting, with grateful hearts we must offer back to God all the Glory and Honour due to Him for His Gracious Love that has sheltered Samoa and protected its Leaders.

His Highness the Head of State earlier delivered to the Nation, a message of Goodwill and Thanksgiving as we celebrated the birth of Christ the Messiah, the Reason for the Season.

This New Year’s address is in the selfsame spirit as we bid farewell to 2014 and perhaps reflect on some of the major executions that we undertook.

In truth, Samoa raised the bar and elevated the standard of its performance in the implementation of the various tasks it embarked on in the year 2014.

From every beginning of the year, and following the United Nations’ Resolutions, Samoa graduated from its ranking of a Least Developed Country to that of a “Middle Income Level Country”.

For the past 52 years, we had strived and laboured persistently in our various endeavours but it was the Tourism Industry that contributed largely to the change in our Economic status.

Consequently, i n realizing the success of our Tourism sector, Government is keen to give priority to this Sector as the mainstay of our economy to ensure rapid growth and in creating employment opportunities for our young population. After all, aren’t our children, the apple's of our eyes?

This past year saw the Government taking on a mammoth task which was to host the U.N.S.I.D.S. an international Conference that brought to our shores thousands of people from all over the Globe. This major undertaking does not need re-emphasizing as it was an event that saw our entire nation, handin- hand working together relentlessly, contributing one way or another that brought about the successful outcome we enjoyed. As leaders of Communities, you took to the task of beautifying our environment.

According to the United Nations’ officials, their experience of Samoa is beyond description.

They were oblivious to the existence of such a Nation with such a Culture – a tradition of friendliness and of giving without obligations, a culture of people always with a smile, willing to offer help one way or another – In their own words, “Samoa is a small Nation with a Big Heart”.

Indeed, whether big or small, each and every person gave their all for the cause of our country which needless to say, the impact of the entire nation’s contribution wrote Samoa into the history books of the world for the future generations to read about and glean from.

Congratulations Samoa – you did it with style and finesse, akin to the much bigger and richer nations of the world.

Allow me to take this opportunity to express my utmost gratitude to the entire country, the old and the young alike for all the endeavours and undertakings of the past year, whether it be in the Government, the Business and Private Sector, the various enterprises and industries, the communities, individual villages and even in the homes. I believe every “execution is a vocation”, and “every vocation a calling” – the rewards you reap however is not for man to bestow but for God to grant His blessings in accordance with the seeds that you sow.

I wish especially to thank the various church denominations, their leaders and congregations who have dedicated themselves to pray without ceasing for the nation of Samoa and its people. It is your fervent prayers and supplications that have rendered blessings and favour from God Almighty, and which continues to keep Samoa in good stead.

As we pause to farewell this past year, we likewise momentarily halt to survey the rising of the sun above the horizon of the new year. No doubt 2015 will bring its own challenges and ordeals, which we can either succumb to, or rise triumphantly above.

Perhaps worth mentioning is the long awaited opportunity for our ‘Boys in Blue’ to rub shoulders with and meet on our own turf, the ‘Boys in Black’. It has certainly been long in coming, but they are now coming to Samoa.

No doubt they will draw quite a crowd not just from New Zealand but also from around the world and the Pacific.

Another major undertaking this year will be the Commonwealth Youth Games which will be held here early September. This again will be a challenge, given our ‘resource constrained’ small country with people as its main resource, such that we need to make every ‘sene’ spent on improving our facilities count.

Being hosts for the C.Y.G.-2015, our young athletes have and are being challenged to defy the odds and dare to do better than their best by winning medals – more than the incoming nations with their own athletes.

I will say to you young people, be challenged to “be over-comers” and not “be over-come”, to be “stars” and not be “spectators”. To quote a well known phrase, “where there’s a will, there’s always a way!”

The year 2015 is significant as it is the last year of the current Parliamentary term prior to the National Elections in 2016.

Notably, Government is fervent in its endeavours to instigate appropriate policies to ensure that such Elections are fair and free.

The Government will continue to pursue infrastructural developments that will raise the economic welfare of our people. A major boost in our Visitor Industry is envisaged when the upgrading of our Airport Terminals starting soon is completed.

In this vein, I wish to thank our various Donor Partners, without whose help, Samoa would not have achieved the various undertakings that it successfully executed in the past years up to the present.

It goes without saying that Samoa values these partnerships very much, however, we would welcome the further easing of some of the more stringent conditions applied by some of our Donor friends on their assistance.

Albeit this Samoa is always grateful and continue to rely on your assistance and generosity for its development going forward.

I wish to thank those travelers from near and far who are here to visit and see Samoa for ‘what it is’.

Being remote from the main air traffic routes, travel to Samoa is by no means cheap but for whatever cause that has brought you to our shores, you have nonetheless contributed to the overall development of our small island nation.

Special greetings to families, friends and visitors who are spending this festive season with us. I hope you will have an enjoyable and safe time here, and that you will take fond memories of this small island nation back to your homes and countries.

I thank and congratulate our Sports men and women in the various sporting fields, whose talents and achievements brought them fame and recognition, but through their efforts it has boosted the image of Samoa worldwide.

For the Government, one of the main challenges continues to be finding avenues to absorb the ever rising numbers of unemployed, out-of-school youths every year. The Seasonal Employment Schemes between Samoa as a sending country and New Zealand and Australia as receiving countries is one such avenue which has been found to provide a safety valve in relieving the pressure of “unemployed, unskilled youth”. The number of Samoan workers continues to rise steadily each year and every effort is being made to ensure that these successful schemes continue into the future given its input into the country’s development and especially in improving the economies of individual families. In relation to this scheme of things, a Conference of N.Z. Employers and Contractors will be held here in Samoa in July this year – historically, this is the first time this Conference is held outside of New Zealand and already it is drawing a lot of attention and commitment from the N.Z. Horticulture and Viticulture sector.

This is but just one of the many Conferences that will be held in Samoa over the course of 2015. Following from the success of the SIDS, there was recently the Tuna Commission which attracted close to 800 people also from various parts of the world.

As it is for all these Conferences, the challenge for Samoa in playing host is to always display hospitality, honesty, generosity and friendliness. For the hoteliers the challenge is in regards to improved services that are offered such as comfort and cleanliness of accommodations but particularly with the taste and handling of foods, especially promoting our own local varieties – after all, the visitor comes to Samoa to experience life here and to taste and appreciate local cuisine.

To conclude, I wish to emphasize Samoa’s need of God in all its undertakings and accomplishments. It is therefore only right that as a nation, we must, and ought to put God first in everything.

This is the very essence of dedicating the very first week of every year to Prayer and Fasting for the entire nation.

This incidentally coincides with the various Churches’ week of Prayers also at the beginning of every year. May we as a Nation stand united in Prayer through Fasting, and may God’s Grace and Mercy abound over Samoa. Soifua!