12 Oct 2006

Fiji becomes eligible to be elected on UN security council

8:05 am on 12 October 2006

Fiji has become eligible to be elected as a member of the prestigious United Nations Security Council.

Fiji TV reports that this was disclosed by the minister for foreign affairs, Kaliopate Tavola, at this week's meeting of the Australia-Fiji Business Council in Queensland.

Mr Tavola said by virtue of its status as an inaugural member of the UN Peace Building Commission, Fiji will be eligible to be a non permanent member of the UN Security Council from 2011.

Fiji's membership of the Commission goes back to the start of its contribution to peacekeeping in Lebanon from 1978.

The UN Security Council comprises five permanent members and another ten non-permanent members which are elected by the General Assembly.

The Security Council makes decisions on the most critical issues before the UN such as the new threat posed by the nuclear test North Korea claims to have carried out this week.