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Samoa - Head of Government

The Hon Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister

The Hon Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi is serving his third term in office as Prime Minister after his victory in the March 2006 general election. He was elected into office in March 2001. Mr Malielegaoi first became Prime Minister from November 1998 to March 2001 when his predecessor, Tofilau Eti Alesana, stepped down.

Mr Malielegaoi is concurrently Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Police and Minister of Telecommunications.

He served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1988 to 1998. Mr Malielegaoi has held other key appointments, including Chairperson of the Pacific Region of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group from 1988 to 2000; Co-President of the ACP-European Union Council of Ministers in 1990 and 1992; and as Chairperson of the Asian Development Bank’s Board of Governors (1988).

Mr Malielegaoi has held ministerial portfolios in Finance, Economic Affairs, Transport and Civil Aviation from 1982 to 1985. He became a Member of Parliament in May 1981.

Before embarking on a political career, Mr Malielegaoi was Deputy Financial Secretary in the Treasury from 1973 to 1981. During this period, he served in the ACP Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium, as an expert on intra-ACP trade from 1978 to 1980. Before joining the civil service, Mr Malielegaoi was a partner in an accounting firm in Samoa.

Mr Malielegaoi has Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in commerce from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is also a certified public accountant.

He was born on 14 April 1945 in Lepa, Samoa.