Some progress has been made at the Vavau meetings of the 38th Pacific Island Leaders Forum in Tonga.
Our News Director, Vijay Narayan filed this report.
Vijay Narayan: The last few hours of the Pacific Island Leaders retreat is currently underway here in Vavau in Tonga and it seems like some progress has been made as discussions continue on Fiji.
We have managed to confirm that Commodore Frank Bainimarama has already addressed the Forum Leaders. The main issue that he discussed with the Forum Leaders was the path to democracy that the Interim Administration has been planning and the people's charter.
Commodore Bainimarama has already told us that the Interim Government has already made a full commitment that elections will be called in Fiji by March 2009 and it is believed that he has already addressed the Forum Leaders accordingly and the Forum leaders then got together to discuss the issues that Bainimarama raised in his address.
Bainimarama was asked to leave the room as they allowed for open discussion to take place. Now earlier today as we left Nuku’alofa to the island of Vavau where the retreat is being held, Commodore Bainimarama came on the Australian Hercules Flight with all the Forum Leaders so for about 45 minutes he a guest of the Australians traveling in the same flight as New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
He hadn't spoken to the international media as yet. Just yesterday as he was leaving after his meeting with the Commonwealth Secretary General some of the foreign journalists yelled out on whether he was being treated like a leper in the forum , a comment which Helen Clark had made a few months ago when the Forum dates were announced. He has not spoken about that, he has not made any comments. All he is saying is that he is ready to engage in positive dialogue.
As reported earlier, the Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama is still optimistic that New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark and Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer will engage him in talks at the Leaders Retreat currently underway.
Bainimarama stressed earlier that the Interim Regime has appointed the Constituency Boundaries Commission and conducted the National Census, and they can not understand why their commitment to hold elections by March 2009, is not being taken seriously.
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