8 Jan 2009

Fiji Forum suspension threat sparks stern warning on trade and visas

1:47 pm on 8 January 2009

Political parties backing Fiji's interim government are warning that suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum will be met with a boycott of New Zealand products.

Suspending Fiji from the regional body is one of the options to be discussed at a special Forum leaders summit in Port Moresby later this month.

A spokesperson for the People's Movement for Political Reform or PEMPOR, a group of six minor political parties, says other Pacific states will lose more than Fiji if they decide to bar Fiji from the Forum.

But Fred Caine says it's New Zealand that stands to lose the most.

"We are going to inform the government we'll boycott every import of New Zealand product by not buying it on the shelves in our supermarket. New Zealand makes 350 million dollars out of us every year we buy from them a miserable they buy from us only 17 million what a big imbalance of trade."

Fred Caine says PEMPOR plans to put its proposals for the boycott and visa restrictions to the interim Prime Minister over the weekend.