Samoa and Tonga are looking at forging closer economic ties with a delegation from the Kingdom in country to hash out details for a bilateral free trade agreement.
The Tongan multi-sector delegation, led by the country’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, Forests and Fisheries, Sione Sangster Saulala, met with both government Ministries and private sector organisations to see how exactly such an agreement could benefit both countries.
Saulala said there was great potential between the two countries for such an agreement to work.
“This is an historical day today for us and Samoa, the beginning of our trade,” he said.
“We have been here talking to the private sector, talking to government, and in the end we want to have a bilateral trade agreement.
Everybody is positive, everybody supports the idea.”
Saulala said this was not the first time the two nations have considered this road.
“In 1999 there was a agreement with the Quarantine,” he said. “But it is after 15 years and there is nothing. So this time we have to make something happen to make trade between us because we see a big opportunity. “
“That is why we came with a container of water melons because we just don’t want to talk, we are here to do business. We want to benefit both countries.”
He said his Government had recently purchased a cargo ship especially for interisland trade.
“The shipping companies…control the trade and they will go the long route to New Zealand, Australia, Fiji then to Samoa,” he said. “Our Government has purchased a cargo vessel so we are here with members of the shipping agency from Tonga.”
“It’s not a big one but enough for interisland (trade), so we are going to come direct. For example the watermelon, it had to come through New Zealand to get here.”
“So we come direct, we want to bring our fresh produce here.”
Tongan businessman, Minoru Nishi, said they are in Apia to look for any opportunity to trade with Samoa.
“I think the opportunity lies in the commonalities that we have in the two countries,” he said. “We have our strengths in agriculture in producing good quality produce. Samoa is good in manufacturing, agribusiness or adding value to primary produce.”
“So we want some of that stuff and Samoa wants some of our stuff. I think a good example of that is our watermelons which are here and now. I know there is great demand for it. It is a good start.”
He said at the moment, one of the stumbling blocks is tariff.
“The major impediment is the tariff, it is 20 per cent and we need to take that off. If they take the 20 per cent tax off, they still will receive 15 per cent on GST revenue at the point of sale.”
“So it is revenue that they didn’t have here before. It is an obstacle that is going to restrict trade and provide a good refreshing host of commodities for your people here in Samoa.”
He said it was a two-way street with the delegation identifying many value added products Samoa had to offer the Kingdom.
“There were a lot of things identified during the trade mission,” he said.
“Such as your corn beef that you manufacture here, your eggs that you have here. There are already two import permit applications on our side in Tonga to import eggs from Samoa.
“You have alcohol here that we can import and you also have chips here, a host of different varieties of chips. So my hope is in less than a year from now trade will increase between the two countries.”
“I think it is a good match, so if we allow trade to open up all our people will benefit from it. It will be win-win.”
APIA, (SAMOA OBSERVER)
