In bid for business, Samoa gives up a day
12/30/2011
On the utterly remote chance that you’re a resident of the Pacific island nation of Samoa, your birthday falls on Dec. 30 and you’re reading this blog, congratulations are in order: you’ve realized the dream of many a baby boomer by postponing the aging process.
That’s because Samoa is eliminating Dec. 30 from its calendar for this one year as it switches time zones and jumps across the international date line.
As a result, Samoa went from 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 29 to 12 a.m. on Dec. 31.
The move, which takes Samoa from being one of the last places on earth to see the sun each day to being among the first, will enable the nation of 179,000 to be closer to its major trading partners in Australasia, according to Agence France-Presse.
“In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we’re losing out on two working days a week,” Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said, explaining the change.
“While it’s Friday here, it’s Saturday in New Zealand and when we’re at church Sunday, they’re already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane.”
