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Official Name - Territory of American Samoa
Land Area - 122.3 sq km (over 7 islands)
Population - 65,628 (July 2009 estimate)
Capital City - Pago Pago
Religion - Christian Congregational: 50%, Roman Catholic: 20%, Protestant and other: 30%
Official Languages - Samoan and English
Currency - US Dollar
Exchange Rate - US$0.6152 = NZ$1 (Westpac exchange rate 9 July 2009)
EEZ - 390,000 sq km
Political system - Presidential representative democratic dependency. American Samoa is an unincorporated and unorganised territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, United States Department of the Interior.
National government -
Follows the US State model of government with an elected Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and legislature.
National legislature - The Bicameral Fono, or Legislative Assembly, consists of:
House of Representatives (21 seats, 20 of which are elected by popular vote and one is an appointed, non-voting delegate from Swain’s Island; members serve two-year terms);
Senate (18 seats; members are appointed from amongst local chiefs and serve four-year terms).
American Samoa elects one non-voting delegate to the US House of Representatives. The representative serves two-year terms. Incumbent Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Fa’aua’a Hunkin (Democrat) has been the American Samoan representative since 1989.
Cabinet comprises 12 departmental heads.Head of State - US President Barack Obama
Head of Government -
Governor Togiola Talalelei Tulafono
GDP - US$575.3 million (2007 estimate)
GDP per capita - US$8,000 per capita (2007 estimate)
Real GDP growth - 3% (2003)
Exports - US$445.6 million (2004 estimate)
Main Exports - Canned tuna
Imports -
US$308.8 million (2004 estimate)
Main Imports - Materials for canneries; food; petroleum products; machinery and parts; building materials.
Current account - Deficit US$10.5 million (2005 estimate)
Inflation
- 3.0% (2006 estimate)
NZ Exports (FOB) - NZ$34,375,192 (12 months to June 2008)
Main Exports
- Meat products, timber, dairy products.
NZ Imports (CIF) - NZ$2,815,025 (12 months to June 2008)
Main Imports - Ferrous waste/scrap, aluminium waste/scrap, agricultural equipment, copper waste/scrap, prepared/preserved fish and fish products, surveying and other instruments, and machinery parts.
First European contact with American Samoa was by Dutch explorers in the eighteenth century. Missionaries began arriving in the islands in the 1830s and in 1878 the US gained the right to establish a naval station at Pago Pago. The US, Britain, and Germany administered the Samoan archipelago as a tripartite protectorate from 1889. International rivalries were settled by an 1899 treaty in which the Samoan archipelago was divided. Germany continued to occupy Western Samoa, and in 1900 the US formally occupied the smaller group of eastern islands with the excellent harbour of Pago Pago.
American Samoa was administered by the US Department of the Navy until 1951 and afterward by the Office of Insular Affairs within the Department of the Interior. Its current constitution was approved in 1967, and in 1978 the territory’s first elected governor took office.
American Samoa is an unincorporated, unorganised territory of the US. It is “unincorporated” because, although it is under the jurisdiction of the US government, it is not part of the US proper and not all provisions of the US Constitution apply to the territory. It is technically considered an “unorganised” territory because the US Congress has not provided it with an Organic Act. Congress gave plenary authority over the territory to the Secretary of the Interior, who in turn allowed American Samoans to draft their own constitution. In his annual Flag Day speech, Governor Togiola raised the issue of American Samoa’s political status and suggested it might be time to review the Constitution and consider “should we seek to fashion a new status as other territories once administered by the US have done”.
Residents of American Samoa are not US citizens, but US nationals who can freely enter the US to work and reside. American Samoa has its own immigration laws; entry into American Samoa by foreigners does not constitute entry into the US.
Following elections in November 2008, Congressman Faleomavaega, Eni Fa’aua’a Hunkin Jr. secured his eleventh term as American Samoa’s non-voting delegate in the US House of Representatives.
Tauese Sunia was nearing the end of his second term as American Samoa's Governor when he died in March 2003. His Lieutenant-Governor, Togiola Tulafono, replaced him as Governor. In the 4 November 2008 elections no candidate won more than 50% of the vote, so a runoff was held on 18 November between the two top candidates – Tulafono and Utu Abe Malae. Tulafono was successful in securing a renewed four-year term as Governor.
While the American political parties (Republican and Democratic) exist in American Samoa, few politicians are aligned with the parties.
Traditional village politics of the fa’amatai and the fa’asamoa continues in American Samoa (known traditionally as Tutuila and Manua) at all levels, including family, village, regional and national matters.
Economic activity in American Samoa is strongly linked to the US, with which American Samoa conducts most of its foreign trade. US government funding constitutes around two-thirds of government revenue.
Tuna fishing and tuna processing plants are the backbone of the private sector, with canned tuna the primary export. The canneries have for several years benefited from tax relief under US legislation (note that as a territory of the US, American Samoa does not treat the US as an external trade partner). American Samoa exports hundreds of millions of dollars of canned tuna to the US each year.
Employment in American Samoa falls into three relatively equal-sized categories of approximately 5,000 workers each: the public sector, two tuna canneries (StarKist and Samoa Packing), and the rest of the private sector. The canneries also employ significant numbers of (Western) Samoans.
In early 2007 the Fair Minimum Wage Act 2007 was passed, which will progressively increase the minimum wage in American Samoa to meet US Federal minimum wage conditions. Following this, there have been continual threats of the possible scaling down of the operations of the fish canneries in American Samoa, with one of the two canneries (Samoa Packing) announcing that it will close its doors in September.
Attempts by the government to develop and broaden the economy have been restrained by American Samoa’s remote location, limited transportation options, and devastating hurricanes. Foreign investment is also constrained by the fact that more than 90% of the land is communally-owned. Tourism, however, is a promising developing sector. American Samoa can also expect to benefit from President Obama’s GEC Stimulus Package. top of page
American Samoa is a member of the South Pacific Commission (SPC); South Pacific Tourism Organisation; Pacific Immigration Development Program; South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). More recently, it joined the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) in 2002 as an associate member.
Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin has also recently petitioned the US State Department to support American Samoa’s application for observer status in the Pacific Islands Forum.
American Samoa is a member of the:
New Zealand has reasonable trade and economic links with American Samoa, although there is room for further growth. New Zealand accounted for 10.8% of imports to American Samoa in 2006. The country’s status as a US territory means that New Zealand does not have an aid programme with American Samoa.
In addition to the presence of New Zealand construction companies in American Samoa, there are a number of other links with New Zealand, including medical referrals, employment of New Zealand doctors, and provision of training (for example through Manukau Institute of Technology for Power Authority employees).
New Zealand tuna fishing vessels (from Simunovich and Sanfords) fish in the Pacific region and supply the American Samoan canneries.
Visits to American Samoa
Visits from American Samoa
New Zealand and American Samoa maintain official contacts through the New Zealand Consul-General to American Samoa located in Apia, Samoa; and the New Zealand Embassy and Congressman Faleomavaega in Washington DC.
The Safe Travel website provides a travel advisory for travellers to American Samoa [external link].
