Government has expressed it's disappointment with the Chair of the Melanesian Spearhead Groups' call to defer the summit so late into Fiji's preparation.

According to a Ministry of Information statement, it stated that  Fiji is disappointment with the Chairman and Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei's call to defer the summit without exhausting all the political options and avenues available to him to resolve the so-called "impasse within the grouping over the Chairmanship of the MSG".

The statement goes on to say that to Fiji's knowledge only Vanuatu has an issue with Fiji hosting the MSG Summit with both the Prime Ministers of PNG and the Solomon Islands writing to the Chair last week seeking his understanding and support for Fiji to host and chair the MSG Summit.

It stated that the understanding was based on the Melanesian custom of deferring to your host when entering his/her village or bure.

It goes on to say that the Chair's suggestion for him to chair the meeting hosted by Fiji, sought to dispossess our Prime Minister of his role and responsibilities of hosting in his own country.

It is therefore ironic that the Chair would quote Melanesian values and traditional practices when offering support to Fiji in his press statement.

The statement said Fiji hoped that the Chair would consider Prime Minister Bainimarama's suggestion conveyed via his letter of 8 July to convene as early as next week the "Special Meeting of MSG Leaders" to resolve the Chairmanship issue.

Story by: Ana Naisoro