Samoa, Israel Sign Visa Waiver Agreement Diplomatic relations, strong since 1977, improve By Lagi Keresoma APIA, Samoa (Talamua, March 11, 2014) – Samoa and Israel will sign a visa waiver agreement that has been negotiated by the two countries. This was one of the topics mentioned today between His Highness the Head of State, Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi and Israel’s new Ambassador to Samoa His Excellency Yosef Livne. The Ambassador and his good lady Mrs. Norma Levine were welcomed in an ava ceremony at His Highness residence at Tua’efu before presenting his credentials. Both His Highness and the Ambassador highlighted the close diplomatic relationships between Israel and Samoa which started in 1977. Samoa and Israel have indeed enjoyed a friendly and fruitful relationship since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries in 1977. This has largely been attained through the pursuit of our common interests and aspirations in international fora for maintaining prosperity, peace and security in our regions and beyond. As members of the world community, we have also endeavoured to address challenges in the areas of sustainable development, human rights, poverty, terrorism, transnational crime and indeed, climate change and sea level rise which is an issue of importance and urgency in our region, said His Highness. Samoa appreciates the efforts by Israel in its cooperation with Samoa as shown in donations towards our Health and Sports Sectors as well as donations given to the Samoa Victim Support Group in past years. Another evidence of cooperation between our two countries is the pending visa waiver agreement that Samoa and Israel have already negotiated and are proposing to sign in the very near future. It is our hope to enhance cooperation between our two countries and to increase bilateral contacts with Israel in various areas of development assistance in the near future. I would also like to echo your sentiments on the up-coming Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) conference that Samoa will host this year and Samoa looks forward to welcoming Israel’s delegation to participate in this very important meeting in September. I am confident that during your term as Ambassador to Samoa, the cordial relations that exist between our two countries will continue to be further strengthened. I reciprocate the confidence that the His Excellency, President Shimon Peres of Israel have in you and I wish you a successful and enjoyable tenure as Ambassador of Israel to the Independent State of Samoa. I also wish you and your wife an enjoyable visit to Samoa. His Excellency Livne is based in Wellington and holds a Masters degree in International Relations and has held several positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel. He was Director of the Department of South America, Director for the Division for Latin America and the Caribbean. He was also Director for Mexico, Central America and Caribbean department and became Ambassador of Director for European Union Cooperation Programme in 2012. He represented his country in diplomatic posts in Mexico, Chile, Brazil and served as non-resident Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in 2006 -2010 and served as Deputy Consul General to Belize from 1993-1997 He was appointed last year as Ambassador of Israel to New Zealand. He is accompanied by his good lady and Jonathan Zadka, the Regional Counsellor to the Pacific islands from the Embassy of Israel in Canberra, Australia. Source: Talamua
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 05:11:00 +0000
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