4 Nov 2008

Fiji to meet with Pacific Islands Forum's Joint Working Group

12:08 pm on 4 November 2008

Fiji will meet with the Pacific Islands Forum's Joint Working Group on Thursday for the first time since pulling out in June.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, Ratu Isoa Gavidi, said he would head Fiji's three-member delegation to the meeting at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

He has told the Fiji Times that the country needs to move forward internally and externally.

He said they would go to the meeting with some suggestions but he won't reveal them now.

The group's chair, Papua New Guinea's High Commissioner to Fiji Peter Eafeare, said he had just returned from Vanuatu and had not been briefed.

The working group has been aiming to help Fiji back to democracy and has been holding meetings since last year.

In June, Fiji withdrew from the group in protest against New Zealand's and Australia's policy.