-
Feb 12, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Enid Westerlund |Reginald Singh |Daniel Flitton |Uale Tofilau
Australia is investing billions of dollars as part of its AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines program. It will take years to be delivered. The enormous cost of this program contrasts with the small possibility that it will ever be used, yet many countries including Australia enhance their defence capability based on the theory that it will deter future conflicts. But this is where Australia’s current relationship with nuclear technologies seems to be at odds with itself.
-
Feb 9, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Reginald Singh |Enid Westerlund |Stephen Howes |Evie Sharman
Talofa Lava!I will be visiting Samoa for my first tour to Pacific Island countries. I have always looked forward to visiting Samoa, which is blessed with rich and beautiful seas and nature. I was told that the people of Samoa carry on traditional Polynesian customs. This is very similar to us Japanese: achieving economic growth while preserving our traditions. I would like to pay my deep gratitude to the Government of Samoa and the people of Apia for their warm hospitality.
-
Feb 9, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Enid Westerlund |Reginald Singh |Daniel Flitton |Stephen Howes
We all know that we live in a changing world. In the vast area of Asia and the Pacific that change is most evident. Over the past 20 years, the economies of many nations in the region have been moving out of the category of ‘least developed’ and graduating into a ‘middle income’ status. However, the positive changes that help to make our lives better, healthier, and more prosperous, are not happening at the same time equally across all countries, or even equitably within them.
-
Feb 4, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Reginald Singh |Daniel Flitton |Henrietta McNeill |Grant Walton
I refer to your recent press release referring to “a stakeholder consultation held in December 2023” on the issue of paraquat use in Samoa and the ‘Pesticide Management Group Analysis, a joint report thereon in collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
-
Feb 2, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Enid Westerlund |Reginald Singh |Daniel Flitton
Is the Pacific prepared for a potential spillover of transnational organised crime from Southeast Asia? This question has become more pressing in recent days following two massive drug busts in Fiji, where authorities seized an estimated 4.1 tonnes of methamphetamine. The investigation is still in its early stages, so the suspected source of the drugs has not been made public.
-
Jan 28, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Enid Westerlund |Reginald Singh
A worldwide scramble for energy supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has intensified China’s quest for energy security. The nation is doubling down on all forms of domestic energy generation – from coal to renewables – to lessen reliance on imports. Major energy exporters to China, including the United States and Australia, have every reason to keep an eye on Chinese offshore wind development.
-
Jan 28, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Enid Westerlund |Reginald Singh |Ian Anderson |Stephen Howes
I am very honoured to join you all this morning. I bring warm Pacific greetings from the Pacific Islands Forum, representing eighteen independent and self-governing states of the Blue Pacific Continent. Firstly, let me acknowledge the organisers of this 14th Global Forum on Migration and Development, together with their partners, the IOM and France as Chair of this year’s Forum, for the invitation and the opportunity to be part of this very important event.
-
Jan 27, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Enid Westerlund |Reginald Singh
There are some things you do not discuss with people when you meet for the first time; politics, religion, sexuality. I’ve heard this unwritten rule when I was a fresh university student. Today, this etiquette does not exist. Controversial issues seem to be the pie of discussion in family, social, and work circles. What issues do you avoid when you are meeting someone for the first time? Children do not have this problem, especially the three to seven-year-olds.
-
Jan 26, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Enid Westerlund |Reginald Singh
There is no one good way to give foreign aid. Simply giving individuals money is all the rage at present. It often works well but doesn’t build hospitals or roads. Donors can construct infrastructure themselves of course, but if the host country is poorly governed, today’s glistening infrastructure projects often turn into tomorrow’s white elephants. In theory, donors can solve this problem by using aid to improve governance. It’s excellent – in theory – but in practice it’s very difficult.
-
Jan 25, 2024 | 
samoaobserver.ws | Enid Westerlund |Reginald Singh |Daniel Flitton
Sometimes writing headlines is just too easy: “The new Porgera: old wine, new bottles” would have been a simple summary of the recent news that, following the passing of new legislation by the Papua New Guinea parliament, the Porgera gold mine reopened on 22 December 2023, and will pour its first gold in nearly four years in the first quarter of 2024. To recap briefly, the Porgera mine opened in 1990, producing four million ounces of gold in its first four years of operation.
