Samoa's biggest private employer, Yazaki Samoa, has announced the shutting down of its operations in Apia after 25 years.
The automotive component manufacturer employs 740 people in Samoa.
Following the announcement the company said it was preparing a final payment package that far exceeded anything paid out in the country before.
A date for Yazaki's 2017 closure has not been finalised.
Yazaki management announce the closure of their Samoa operations Photo: RNZI/ Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia
The company's President, Craig O'Donohue, said Yazaki is fully committed to providing support for their employees as well as to provide support for the government's growth strategy.
"Whilst the announcement may not be a favourable announcement, sad in some way, what we have asked our people to do is to remember how happy we should be for the experience that we have and we still have to go," Mr O'Donohue said.
"But in doing that we're going to do our best to support everybody with upskilling or reskilling, lifeskill training, opportunities offshore, if we can help."
Mr O'Donohue said the company will be engaging their employees one on one to ask them what they want and what they expect from Yazaki.
Yazaki Samoa, in its early years of operation, had employed more than two thousand people injecting millions of dollars into the local economy.
