Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Clouds, and our beautiful paradise have a rich, powerful, and dramatic history together. They were once the colonial rulers of this country and there have been dark days.

In 1962 when Samoa achieved independence, a Treaty of Friendship was signed by New Zealand and the new Samoan government, which pledged that relations between the two countries would be governed by a spirit of close friendship and that both governments would work together to promote the welfare of the people of Samoa.

Undoubtedly, New Zealand has been a good development partner providing aid for development such as the Savalalo Market and there is direct budget financing. Samoan families have been able to achieve success through the seasonal work schemes.

According to New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New Zealand and Samoa work closely together on a range of issues, including climate change, security, and enhancing the prosperity of the region. Samoa is a valued partner for New Zealand and provides a significant leadership role in the Pacific.

This is why the people of Samoa fail to understand why friendship is not shown when it comes to processing visas for visits to New Zealand. Time and time again, there have been stories highlighted of people who are waiting months to get approval.

Just this month, Fiji joined Samoa’s call for visa-free travel within the Pacific including to Australia and New Zealand, showing that there is a need for this. This would be something like the agreement between European Union countries.

It was very timely for Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa to highlight the country's expectations on New Zealand visa arrangements and the importance of human resources to the country’s sustainability at the second iteration of the inaugural Treaty of Friendship Symposium.

Then again Fiame makes this point at every one of those functions that involve New Zealand. There should also be equal political will by the government to include this topic in every bilateral discussion.

“With every anniversary we do raise the question under the scope of the treaty and wonder if there is room to consider the facilitation of the temporary movement of people to visit families, engage in faalavelaves more often than not on an emergency basis or business developments or to spent holidays in New Zealand as tourists,” she said.

“Many Samoans find the existing visa procedure administrative arrangements to be lengthy, inaccessible, and futile.  For similar reasons, we are unable to fully use the benefits of the quota system, which the treaty highlights as a specific consideration.”

She pointed out that the intention is to make sure that Samoa is the country where its people desire to dwell and contribute to its developments, thus the problem is really to make visitation easier rather than permanent migration.

That is what the people of Samoa desire. There is a large population of Samoans in New Zealand and they are contributors to what has become New Zealand. How many All Blacks have Samoan connections? How many Kiwi Olympians, businesspeople, academics, journalists, medical and legal professionals and even politicians have Samoan connections? Even the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand has a matai title.

It is quite envious to see that unlike Samoa, people from Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau can travel at will to New Zealand while people here have to wait for months to get approval to see family members. That is all that is needed. Why is there a fear of approaching this issue and making travel visas easier? People just want to see family members, spend a little time there and return home.

New Zealand has stringent immigration laws that can deal with overstayers and simply blackmark people who violate the visa conditions and not allow them back again. Samoa and New Zealand are friends and friends are always welcome to each other’s houses.

The door in Samoa remains wide open and has never been shut, we hope that New Zealand leaves the door ajar.