Pacific forum chairman pushes for continued Fiji communication
Updated
The Chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum says he will do everything in his power to ensure channels of communication with Fiji remain open.
On Thursday, Fiji declined to attend a special meeting of the Fiji Forum Working Group, after announcing last weekend that it was suspending its involvement in the group with immediate effect.
The interim government cited concerns about travel bans the Australia and New Zealand have enforced against the Fiji military and government.
Pacific Islands Forum chairman and Tongan prime minister, Fred Sevele, has told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program he is still hopeful of persuading Fiji's prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, to allow Fiji to rejoin the working group.
"I have asked the Commodore to allow that visit to take place, an opportunity for him and his government to meet these senior ministers and discuss issues face to face and hopefully they will reach some compromise to allow things to move forward to allow dialogue with Fiji to continue," he said.
