W. Samoa Calls For Capital Aid

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31339, 8 April 1967, Page 1

W. Samoa Calls For Capital Aid

<N.Z.P;A.-lienter—Copyright) TOKYO, April 7. The grim economic prospects for Western Samoa were described at the general meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia .and the Far East (E.C.A.F.E.) yesterday by the country’s 26-year-old External Affairs officer, Mr Karanita Enari.

Western Samoa needed £32.5 million of investment capital over the next 20 years to provide jobs for its 130,000

inhabitants and their children, Mr Enari told the 356 delegates at the commission’s twenty-third general meeting.

“This figure is bound to

sound petty to many members of this commission," he said.

“It is a formidable one for us in Western Samoa, where annual revenue is only in the region of £2.5 million and per capita income is optimistically estimated at only £4O.

“As a result of low Incomes and consequent low capacity for savings, my country holds very little hope that this investment figure will be met internally.” Mr Enari called upon the industrial nations for a concrete manifestation of their good will.