Fiji will not attend the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Niue this week.
While making the announcement in a press conference this afternoon, Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama said the decision is regrettable but it has arisen due to the decision taken by the NZ government.
Commodore Bainimarama said it is unfortunate that NZ has decided that the Fiji delegation will only be given transit visas for NZ when all the forum bilateral talks with the development partners and other countries will take place in NZ.
“A part of the Niue Forum meeting, namely the bilateral meetings, will be held in Auckland, New Zealand. But the members of the Fiji delegation are being denied the opportunity to participate in these meetings. These meetings are integral to the Forum meetings. The NZ government has seen fit not to issue visas to enable Fiji to participate. On 11th August, our Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Epeli Nailatikau wrote to the Chair of the Pacific Forum, the Prime Minister of Tonga Dr Feleti Sevele expressing Fiji’s concern about the strike to unconditionally and fully engage in all of the Forum processes”.
Commodore Bainimarama also revealed that the Forum Foreign Ministers report which will be presented to the Forum in Niue this week has already been received by the interim government.
In the report, it is stated that Fiji should have elections by March 2009 under the current electoral system.
Bainimarama makes it clear that outsiders cannot decide the date for elections.
“First regarding the date of the General Election. I was pressured to agree to the March 2009 date at the Pacific Forum Leaders meeting in Tonga last year because they wanted a definite date. I wanted flexibility and an “in principle” understanding so that the date could be reviewed if we were not able for good reason to meet that particular election date. The interim government has received that report. We are dismayed and disappointed with that report. I have conveyed this to the current Forum Chair, the Prime Minister of Tonga. The Pacific Forum needs to understand that we in Fiji will decide what is in our national interest in the short and the long term. Outsiders cannot decide this for us.”
The National Federation Party said it is a typical decision of the Interim Government to not to participate in the Pacific Island Leaders Forum in Niue from this Wednesday.
General Secretary Pramod Rae said the interim regime does not realise what it is missing by not going to the Forum.
“As I have said, typical knee jerk reaction that the regime has towards its critics. When you undertake certain activities, there are consequences and the restrictions placed on the members of the regime are consequences of the actions that they took. So they must learn to operate within those constraints. It is most unfortunate that they will not go to Niue. They will have lost a golden opportunity to engage in further dialogue and to be able to listen to good advice from our Pacific Island neighbours. We would ask him to reconsider the fact that they are not able to participate in some bilateral discussions elsewhere off the island of Niue, that is quite irrelevant. The main forum is the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum.”
Meanwhile, Fiji Labour Party Spokesperson Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi said the Party will make an official statement on the matter later.
