Samoa Skips December 30th To Align Calendar With Trading Partners

By: EW News Desk Team   Date: 30 December 2011

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30 December 2011

The South Pacific nation of Samoa, along with neighbouring Tokelau, will be cutting out December 30th from their calendars this year, in an attempt to move their time-zone 24 hours ahead to catch up with their major trading partners in Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Since 1892, Samoa has been following the US time-zone, after American traders had persuaded them to do so in order to facilitate business with the West Coast of the United States.

However, while the US had historically been Samoa’s most important trading partner, recent years have seen a growing surge of trade with Australia, New Zealand and other Asian countries, due to their closer proximity.

As such it made far more economic sense more Samoa to adopt the new time-zone.

“In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we’re losing out on two working days a week,” said Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi to the New York Times. “While it’s Friday here, it’s Saturday in New Zealand, and when we’re at church on Sunday, they’re already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane.”

“Today, we do a lot more business with New Zealand and Australia, China and Pacific Rim countries such as Singapore,” added Tuila’epa.

The new shift in time-zone will take place at the stroke of midnight, where 11:59pm on December 29th would become 12:01am on December 31st two minutes later. The new time zone will also put Samoa 3 hours ahead of eastern Australia rather than 21 hours behind it, and 22 hours ahead of California, instead of 2 hours behind it.

"No longer shall we have people ringing us up on Monday from New Zealand and Australia thinking it is Monday when we are closing our eyes and praying at churches,” beamed Tuila’epa, as quoted by Reuters.

"It will remove the enormous amount of confusion in our travel times for the Samoans and especially for the tourists who come to Samoa, who keep thinking of the New Zealand and Australian time zones,” he added.

This is not the first step that Samoa has made to align itself closer with its trading partners. Two years ago, Samoa changed the side of the road that vehicles would drive on from the right side to the left. The prime minister back then said that the change would have made it easier for Samoans living in the neighbouring nations to send used cars home to their relatives.

In order to win public support for their latest move, the Samoa government has also declared that employers must still pay workers for the missing Friday, while banks are not allowed to charge interest for the lost day.

The change in time-zone also means that Samoa would now lose its status as the last place on earth to herald in the new year every year, though now it would become one of the first countries in the world to celebrate the new year.


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