Nevada Guard, Samoa sign partnership pact

A collaboration between the Nevada National Guard and Samoa under the National Guard’s State Partnership Program was signed July 6, according to a news release.

The signing ceremony was held in Apia, Samoa, at the U.S. Embassy residence and included the Nevada National Guard’s Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Ondra Berry and Samoa’s Minister of Police, Prisons and Corrections Services Faualo Harry Schuster.

“The State Partnership program will enable new possibilities in disaster response, humanitarian assistance, cultural exchange, and much more,” U.S. Ambassador to Samoa Tom Udall said in the release.

The State Partnership Program is a Department of Defense program that pairs National Guard states with foreign countries. The program aims to facilitate mutual support, cooperation, and development across various sectors, including defense, emergency management, and humanitarian assistance.

Samoa is the Nevada Guard’s third partner; it has also teamed with Tonga since 2014 and Fiji since 2018. According to the National Guard Bureau, there are now 100 security cooperation agreements between the National Guard states, territories and the District of Columbia and countries around the world: According to the National Guard, about 45 percent of the world’s 195 sovereign recognized nations participate in the State Partnership Program.

Samoa is composed of numerous islands in the South Pacific Ocean and lies about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. The country has a population of about 207,000 and about 75 percent live on the island of Upolu. Its total land mass is just slightly smaller than Rhode Island at 1,759 square miles.