28 Oct 2008

NFP leader appreciative of Fiji political talks

2:47 pm on 28 October 2008

The leader of Fiji's National Federation Party, Pramod Rae, says yesterday's meeting with the interim Prime Minister didn't achieve much, but it broke the ice.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama held the meeting, which included 14 political parties, in Suva on Monday - the first such gathering since he carried out a coup in 2006.

Mr Rae says the meeting was a positive beginning, but there's no guarantee it's going to end perfectly for everyone.

"There was a tense atmosphere at the beginning, but I think it quickly faded away, and there was general politeness all round. Really the hope and the positivity of the meeting developed as we went through the bag. So, yeah, it was a positive meeting overall...I don't think we can place too much on it at this stage ."

Pramod Rae says he believes it was an educational meeting for Commodore Bainimarama, as he was enable to interact with those opposed to him for the first time