The next Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting will be held in Fiji next year and Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama will invite a number of Pacific Island countries to attend the meeting.

The MSG members are Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

With Fiji hosting the MSG next year, Commodore Bainimarama is also expected to take the Chairperson's post for the MSG which is currently held by the Vanuatu Prime Minister.

He said he will invite other Pacific Island countries as talks have been held that they want to continue talking with Fiji but that cannot happen in the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum as Fiji has been suspended.

He said he has been approached by a few Pacific island leaders already. However he will not reveal the names of the leaders.

Commodore Bainimarama said discussions occurred while he was at the UN General Assembly in New York and during the visit of the Prime Ministers of PNG, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

However he has rejected suggestions that this could be the beginning of a new Pacific Islands Forum excluding Australia and New Zealand.