27 May 2016

Uncertainty over Fiji PM returning to Forum

12:25 pm on 27 May 2016
Fiji's Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the 3rd PIDF Summit.Sep 2015

Fiji's Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the 3rd PIDF Summit. Photo: PIDF

Fiji media reports say Fiji has stayed away from the high level meetings preparing this year's Pacific Islands Forum summit.

Fiji TV says invitations for the September summit in the Federated States of Micronesia have been sent out but there is no confirmation that Fiji's prime minister, Frank Bainimamara, will attend.

He has said he will not participate in any Forum meeting until Australia and New Zealand are no longer full members because he believes the Forum no longer served the interests of all Pacific Islanders.

Next month, Mr Bainimarama will meet New Zealand's prime minister John Key in Fiji.

Fiji had been suspended in the 2009 because Mr Bainimarama reneged on a promise to Forum leaders to return Fiji to democracy that year.

However, after elections in 2014 Fiji was re-admitted as a full member

Last year, Fiji was represented at the Forum by its foreign minister.

In 2013, Fiji set up a rival regional body, the Pacific Islands Development Forum, which is due to hold its next annual summit in Solomon Islands in July.

John Key and Frank Bainimarama formally meet for the first time. 29 September 2015, New York

John Key and Frank Bainimarama at UN in New York Photo: Twitter / @johnkeypm