An early start at the United Nations Headquarters today saw leaders from around the world gather in the Trusteeship Council Chambers to witness and take part in the historical event of signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The road to this day has not been easy and it was certainly not straight. Earlier this year on the 7th July 2017 "122 States voted to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – a landmark international agreement that outlaws, categorically, the worst weapons of mass destruction and establishes a pathway to their elimination." as mentioned by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

Samoa is a Party to the South Pacific Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone - the Treaty of Rarotonga, and continues to promote the early realization of a world without nuclear weapons  as stipulated in Article 6 of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. Like many other States, Samoa believes that the only absolute guarantee against the use and threat of nuclear weapons is through its total elimination. This has been a major safeguard against possible nuclear devastation that could happen to Samoa.

The Prime Minister of the Independent State of Samoa, H.E Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is in New York for the leaders' week of the seventy second Session of the General Assembly and signed the above mentioned Treaty on behalf of the people of Samoa earlier today. Even though taht Nuclear Power States and other states have not yet signed, but this is a great achievement towards ridding the world of these nuclear weapons.