by nobodyofnote on 10 Jun 2012 09:20 Germany to present gifts to Samoa to mark 50th anniversary
The German government will be presenting gifts to Samoa to mark 50 years of independence, including equipment for a colonial archives project.
Samoa was a colony of Germany from 1900 to 1914 and the German ambassador to New Zealand, Thomas Meister, says even though the official relationship ended years ago, the countries still have a strong connection.
The gifts consist of a scholarship for a Samoan university graduate to complete post-graduate studies at a university in Germany, and equipment for the Samoan Fire Service and Disaster Management Office.
Ambassador Meister says two digital cameras are also being gifted, that will form part of the joint German-Samoan project on the digitization of colonial archives.
“I visited this project myself only in March and they have about I think 600,000 documents which are now digitized and for the future this is very important on one hand for the future of Samoa, and on the other hand also through this digitization those files will be made accessible to researchers all over the world.”
The German ambassador to New Zealand, Thomas Meister.
Source: http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=68507 (Radio New Zealand International, 29th May 2012).
