10 Sep 2009

Revival of Fiji dialogue forum mooted

3:28 pm on 10 September 2009

The Commonwealth's Special Envoy to Fiji, Sir Paul Reeves, is reported to be eager to help revive the President's Political Dialogue Forum.

The Reverend Akuila Yabaki, from the National Council for Building a Better Fiji, who attended a meeting with Sir Paul yesterday, said the Commonwealth delegation has offered to help re-establish the forum, which has not met since the abrogation of the constitution in April.

The Forum was designed to bring political parties together to discuss a framework for elections.

The Reverend Yabaki says he would like to see it revived, but dialogue is already taking place between groups such as civil societies and unions as a prelude to discussion between the politicians.

"When the PPF picks up, in some ways that's only a continuity, the dialogue that's already taking place up and down the country. At the moment if you ask the government, they've got a framework for change but some of us would like that brought forward a bit."

The Reverend Yabaki says the Commonwealth delegation can still play a role in helping the country to move towards elections before 2014.

The Fiji Sun reports Commodore Bainimarama say political party dialogue will resume in due time.