Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi says Fiji is more than welcome to join a proposed Polynesian subgroup.
Polynesian leaders met in Auckland last month on the side of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Summit to discuss the set-up of the new group, and are due to hold a meeting in Apia next month.
Tuilaepa says while Fiji is a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group it is also a Polynesian country with a Polynesian culture.
He says said other than the Forum members Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Niue and the Cook Islands,
the unaffiliated territories of Tahiti Nui, the Marquesas, Wallis and Futuna and American Samoa, welcome to join on some agreed capacity.