The tiny island of Samoa is set to move to the opposite side of the International Date Line – and lose an entire day in the process.

Unfortunately, this is no attempt to get Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and a Delorean together again for a southern hemisphere instalment in the highly successful Back to the Future franchise, but an actual move by the Prime Minister of the Pacific Island nation in an attempt to boost commerce with their near neighbours and biggest trading partners.

Fed up of losing out on two days worth of valuable business with close neighbours Australia and New Zealand, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has proposed that Samoa move from east to west of the international date line, 119 years after moving the opposite way.

Presently, Samoa, which sits just over 30 kilometres east of the imaginary date line that runs from pole to pole, operates 11 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), 23 hours behind New Zealand and 21 hours behind Australia, something that Malielegaoi believes is a major hindrance to conducting business with the island’s major trading partners, particularly at weekends.

"In doing business with New Zealand and Australia we're losing out on two working days a week," Mr. Tuilaepa said of the decision.

"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."

Concerns have been expressed over what effect the decision might have on tourism in the country, considering that Samoa would no longer be the destination of one of the last sunsets on earth, but the Prime Minister believes that the opposite is the case.

"You can have two birthdays, two weddings and two wedding anniversaries on the same date - on separate days - in less than an hour's flight across - without leaving the Samoan chain," he added.

The proposed date for the transition is Thursday 29 December, which would mean – to the probable delight of residents - that Friday 30 December will be skipped completely and New Year’s Eve can be celebrated earlier than expected.

It’s not the first time a decision taken on a whim by the Prime Minister has caused controversy. In 2009, he decided that vehicles should drive on the left rather than the right hand side of the road, causing mass protest and no doubt, mass hilarity in the process.