APIA, SAMOA \u2013 23 FEBRUARY 2022:\u00a0<\/strong>The Unites States new Ambassador to Samoa, Tom S. Udall has praised and congratulated Samoa\u2019s democracy after \u201chitting tough spots\u201d in the April 2021 general elections.<\/p>\nAfter presenting his credentials to the Head of State, His Highness Tuimaleliifano Vaaleto\u2019a Sualauvi II, Mr. Udall via a zoom press conference said Samoa just showed how vital and strong its democracy is in the recent election.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemocracy requires engagement so each generation has to make that engagement and make that commitment and that\u2019s what I think Samoa has done and shown to the people of Samoa and to the world that you can hit some tough spots in democracy but you come out of it stronger and so I congratulate your Government on that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not said in any way that we want to interfere with the government of Samoa. Our objective and my objective as a diplomat is to work with Samoa as equal partners to move forward together on shared values and issues that we care about,\u201d said Udall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe share those values, we share the values that flow from democracy about freedom of speech and freedom of religion and one thing I would say to the young people both in Samoa and the United States and around the world is that democracy is not a spectator sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting to know Samoa better<\/strong>
\nBefore taking on the role of Ambassador, Mr. Udall had known that Samoans were friendly people.<\/p>\n\u201cWe just had the Superbowl, and we had a Samoan as the Emcee, wonderful person, presents a great personality and I think all Samoans all over the world are really known for their generosity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the thing that really hits me is how we\u2019re both very proud Pacific nations and knowing that we want to work together, share common values about democracy, about freedom of speech, about freedom of religion and all of those things are important to both countries and so I really look forward to getting to know the Samoan people much better as the circumstances develop as I\u2019m able to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Talaia Mika APIA, SAMOA \u2013 23 FEBRUARY 2022:\u00a0The Unites States new Ambassador to Samoa, Tom S. Udall has praised and congratulated Samoa\u2019s democracy after \u201chitting tough spots\u201d in the April 2021 general elections. After presenting his credentials to the Head of State, His Highness Tuimaleliifano Vaaleto\u2019a Sualauvi II, Mr. Udall via a zoom press […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[208,177,211],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-9378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","category-latest","category-regional","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n
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