Bilateral Meeting Opening Remarks Parliament House, Canberra
ANTHONY ALBANESE. PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Well, Prime Minister Fiamē, you are a very welcome guest in Australia. And it is good to renew our friendship from when we first met at the Pacific Island Forum. My apologies for our Foreign Minister being absent because of COVID. But she wanted to make sure that she sent those apologies. Prime Minister, our countries have deep connections. We are very close neighbours. Both of us believe in the Pacific family. And I thank you for your leadership in the Pacific Island Forum, in promoting the Pacific family, promoting the fact that our economic relations, our security ties, our people-to-people relations are so important as well. We have in Australia, including one of our Australian Defence Force band who you met outside, we have over 100,000 people from Samoa here in Australia, either Samoan directly or of descent. And they make a wonderful contribution to our nation. And indeed, the fact that Samoa, such a relatively small country, made the final of the Rugby League World Cup, including people like Michael Chee-Kam, a great South Sydney Rabbitoh, is very important for us. I do, as well, share your commitment to strong regionalism to support for the Pacific Island Forum. And I want to very much welcome your leadership on climate action. I consistently say that the entry key for Australia to the door of good international relations is us taking strong action on climate change. We have legislation before our Parliament now, in order to ensure that happens. And the bilateral partnership agreement that we just signed goes to cooperation on climate change, cooperation on security issues, cooperation on our economy, and cooperation in the cultural sphere as well. Samoa will host, of course, the CHOGM next year, which will be a major international event in our region. And I know that King Charles is very much looking forward to attending there, as am I, as the Australian Prime Minister. So, Prime Minister, I look forward to the constructive discussions that we will have today, not just during the day with members of my Cabinet, you will meet the Leader of the Opposition as well. But I also look forward to a less formal gathering this evening when I will have the great honour of hosting you at The Lodge this evening. Welcome.
HON FIAMĒ NAOMI MATAʻAFA, PRIME MINISTER OF SAMOA: Well, thank you very much, Prime Minister, for your most kind welcome, this morning’s honour. As a relatively new administration, much like yourselves, taking this time to accept the kind invitation to have this visit, it’s a great opportunity to build on relations, long-standing relations, between our two countries. And I’m sure, Prime Minister, as a new administration, you have your development and agenda before you, as we do. And I think it’s very good to have an early opportunity to have this meeting with yourself and your Government. Albeit we met last year at the leaders meeting. Can I express at this point something that is in the forefront of our minds, that COVID experience that the world has experienced and the assistance that we’ve had from Australia to ensure the safety of the region and the work that Australia and New Zealand, in partnership with our other colleagues, has ensured that as a region we survived the pandemic. And when we think back in history, with our experience of the influenza in 1918, and the loss of population there, we’re very mindful and thankful that at this pandemic, our partners and neighbours came to our assistance. And we will, I think, we have some of the best statistics of the COVID experience internationally. So, thank you very much, Prime Minister, for that. We missed you at the last special retreat. But as you know very well, Prime Minister, we welcome back Kiribati, so the Pacific family is intact. I think I made mentioned the other evening at the Lowy event of the reorganisation of the Forum to ensure the strengthening of our Pacific family.