11 Sep 2018

Samoa PM acknowledges Fiji leader's choice

4:41 pm on 11 September 2018

Samoa's prime minister says differences with his Fijian counterpart disappeared after Fiji's return to democracy.

Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi was asked about his relationship with Frank Bainimarama in an interview with Savali newspaper.

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Photo: supplied / Forum Secretariat

The pair have had sharp exchanges in the past with Mr Bainimarama once calling Tuilaepa a yapping lapdog always on the attack.

Tuilaepa said after the 2006 Fiji coup he had spoken out against the emergence of a seemingly radical political system in Fiji which centered on the military.

He said Mr Bainimarama was defending a new system to transition Fiji to a new order to raise the welfare of all in Fiji.

The Samoan prime minister said Fiji had enormous social and economic challenges absent in Samoa.

The Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama at Government House in Auckland

The Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama at Government House in Auckland. Photo: RNZ/ALEX PERROTTET

He said he was also aligning his views with the Pacific Islands Forum which had suspended Fiji in 2009 for overthrowing an elected government.

Tuilaepa said he and Mr Bainimarama were often misunderstood and quoted out of context by journalists out to make a fast buck.

"Good visionary politicians are often misunderstood and quoted out of context deliberately by undernourished and hungry looking business minded journalists out to make a fast buck," he told Savali.

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