A senior official of the European Commission has welcomed the opportunity to engage with Fiji when he met with Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola in Brussels.

The Ministry of information confirmed that on the margins of the ACP ministerial committee and the joint ACP-EU ministerial committee meetings in Brussels, Ratu Inoke met with the European Commission's Directorate General for Development Christian Leffler.   

Ratu Inoke provided an update on the major initiatives undertaken by the Fiji Government in line with government's blueprint for socio-economic, legal and constitutional development set out in the Strategic Framework for Change, which details Fiji's roadmap towards parliamentary democracy.

Ratu Inoke said the Government was working backwards from the election timeline of 2014 and highlighted that from 2012 to 2014 the main focus will be on political and constitutional developments, including the formulation and educating of the public on the new constitution and the new electoral system.  

He said now until 2014, government=s predominant focus is on economic and social development.

Leffler said that continuous dialogue was useful in advancing the relevant issues.

He said that the commission considers Fiji as an extremely important and useful partner in the Pacific.  

He also highlighted that the commission had publically expressed concern with Fiji not being present in Vanuatu for the Pacific Islands Forum, and more particularly for the PACP meetings.



Story by: Roneel Lal