Officials on the islands of Samoa and Tokelau have begun preparations to skip a day and jump from east to west of the international dateline.

The move is designed to improve relations with major trade partners including Australia and New Zealand.

When the clock strikes midnight on December 29th, the South Pacific islands will fast-forward to December 31st entirely missing out December 30th.

Samoa announced the decision in May with Tokelau deciding to follow suit in October.

The change comes 119 years after Samoa moved in the opposite direction.

At present Samoa is 21 hours behind Sydney, while New Zealand administered Tokelau is 23 hours behind Wellington.

Following the change, Samoa will be three hours ahead of partners in Australia, while Tokelau will see the difference reduced to just one hour.