Samoa

Given the fast pace of global socio-economic development, more tailored, focused, and localised efforts to strengthen public sector capacity in small island developing states (SIDS) is increasingly important. SIDS have unique vulnerabilities, rich histories and contexts, and strengths that can be harnessed for sustainable development. Development partners need to adapt how they provide capacity-strengthening support, taking individual SIDS’ circumstances and needs into account to better help them achieve their ambitions. This report summarises perspectives from small island developing states (SIDS) on current experiences and opportunities to improve capacity-strengthening support to make it more tailored, impactful, and sustainable. The report uses the broad definition of capacity-strengthening as activities that improve the competencies and abilities of individuals, organisations, and broader formal and informal social structures in a way that boosts organisational performance. It concentrates on public sector capacity, including interactions with other stakeholders across sectors.

La République démocratique du Congo compte deux conventions fiscales en vigueur, ainsi que l’indique sa réponse au questionnaire d’examen par les pairs. Aucune de ces conventions n’est conforme au standard minimum.

Samoa has one tax agreement in force, the agreement with New Zealand, as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire. This agreement complies with the minimum standard.

Samoa can legally issue the following five types of rulings within the scope of the transparency framework: (i) preferential regimes; Samoa grants several preferential regimes, possibly in scope of the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP) work, that have not yet been reviewed by the FHTP, but for which rulings could be issued under the Action 5 transparency framework. (ii) cross-border unilateral APAs and any other cross-border unilateral tax rulings (such as an advance tax ruling) covering transfer pricing or the application of transfer pricing principles; (iii) rulings providing for unilateral downward adjustments; (iv) permanent establishment rulings; and (v) related party conduit rulings.

The re-opening of Samoa’s borders in late-2022 kickstarted the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This offers an opportunity to rebuild sustainably its tourism, maritime transport, and fisheries sectors. Samoa’s ocean resources can also augment its resilience to future shocks such as climate change. Through an analysis of Samoa’s economic trends and environmental pressures, institutional set-up and policy tools, as well as financing landscape, this report identifies opportunities and challenges for Samoa’s ocean economy to drive sustainable and resilient development. The Samoa Ocean Strategy offers a blueprint for such a pursuit, but there remain gaps and impediments. To address them, the report provides several cross-cutting and sector-specific policy recommendations to accelerate Samoa’s transition to a sustainable ocean economy.

The Government of Samoa has crafted an integrated approach to ocean management through the development of the Samoa Ocean Strategy (SOS) and the National Ocean Steering Committee (NOSC). This chapter explores how these elements provide a foundation for policy coherence and co-ordination in pursuit of a sustainable ocean economy. It also elucidates challenges, some stemming from pandemic-related disruptions, which hamper the potential of the SOS and the NOSC. The chapter then situates the SOS and the NOSC in Samoa’s economic, social and environmental context, as well as its broader policy landscape, to assess policy alignment and identify drivers of and roadblocks to successful implementation.

This chapter offers an overview of Samoa’s financing landscape as it relates to the ocean economy. It emphasises the need to tap into a diverse range of financing sources (public, private, domestic and external) to support Samoa’s aspirations of building a sustainable ocean economy. Additionally, the chapter explores the role of official development assistance (ODA) in cultivating a sustainable ocean economy and the potential benefits and challenges associated with adopting innovative financing mechanisms in the Samoan context.

The Blue Recovery Hubs initiative, a partnership between the OECD and the Friends of Ocean Action (a coalition convened by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the World Resources Institute), was established as an accelerator platform to support countries “build forward bluer” after the COVID-19 pandemic. By providing policy support and mobilising and aligning resources, the initiative aims to advance two key objectives: (i) enhance the long-term sustainability of existing ocean economy sectors and (2) generate new and sustainable opportunities that can enable economic diversification and act as a multiplier of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This chapter explores the structure and patterns of Samoa’s ocean economy, highlighting the crucial roles played by key sectors such as tourism, fisheries and maritime transport. It emphasises their contributions to the overall economic context and assesses the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, to draw lessons for building a sustainable and resilient ocean economy. The chapter also explores the pressing challenges faced by Samoa’s ocean economy, including climate change, overexploitation of marine resources and environmental degradation, and discusses the potential of ocean economy activities to drive long-term economic growth and development.

This chapter highlights a set of cross-cutting and sector-specific opportunities to encourage sustainable development of Samoa’s blue economy. The first subsection offers cross-cutting recommendations that apply broadly to Samoa’s ocean economy, while the second subsection outlines sector-specific recommendations for sustainable tourism, fisheries, maritime transport and emerging sectors of the ocean economy.

Samoa, a small island developing state, has an economy closely tied to the Pacific Ocean. The pursuit of a sustainable ocean future is central to Samoa’s development vision. This is reflected in the country’s medium and long-term national development strategies, which recognise the potential of several ocean-based industries for economic growth. The government understands that harnessing ocean resources is vital for sustainable economic development and improving the livelihoods of its people. It also acknowledges that the ocean represents a source of cultural identity and spiritual connection for many Samoans and their communities.

Samoa has one tax agreement in force, the agreement with New Zealand, as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire. This agreement complies with the minimum standard.

Samoa compte une convention fiscale en vigueur avec la Nouvelle-Zélande, comme l’indique sa réponse au questionnaire d’examen par les pairs. Cette convention est conforme au standard minimum.

Samoa can legally issue the following five types of rulings within the scope of the transparency framework: (i) preferential regimes; Samoa grants several preferential regimes, possibly in scope of the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP) work, that have not yet been reviewed by the FHTP, but for which rulings could be issued under the Transparency Framework. (ii) cross-border unilateral APAs and any other cross-border unilateral tax rulings (such as an advance tax ruling) covering transfer pricing or the application of transfer pricing principles; (iii) rulings providing for unilateral downward adjustments; (iv) permanent establishment rulings; and (v) related party conduit rulings. As stated in the Tax Administration Act (TAA) of 2012, it is the Commissioner of Inland Revenue Services (Commissioner) that has the authority to issue either a public or private rulings on tax related matters.

This report analyses the implementation of the AEOI Standard in Samoa with respect to the requirements of the AEOI Terms of Reference. It assesses both the legal frameworks put in place to implement the AEOI Standard and the effectiveness of the implementation of the AEOI Standard in practice.

This annual publication compiles comparable tax revenue statistics for Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nauru, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tokelau, Vanuatu and Viet Nam. It also provides information on non-tax revenues for selected economies. Based on the OECD Global Revenue Statistics database, the publication applies the OECD methodology to Asian and Pacific economies to enable comparison of tax levels and tax structures on a consistent basis, both among the economies of the region and with other economies worldwide. This edition includes a special feature on strengthening tax revenues in developing Asia. The publication is jointly produced by the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the OECD Development Centre, in co-operation with the Asian Development Bank, the Pacific Island Tax Administrators Association and the Pacific Community.

Samoa has one tax agreement in force, the agreement with New Zealand, as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire. This agreement complies with the minimum standard.