The Fiji interim regime has proposed to send a senior military figure banned from entering New Zealand as its special counsellor to New Zealand as part of efforts to firm up diplomatic relations.
The website Fijivillage reports that the Permanent Secretary for Information and Military Spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Neumi Leweni, has been suggested for the position.
This comes two weeks after a meeting between the New Zealand Foreign Minister, Murray McCully and his Fiji counterpart, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, in Nadi where they agreed to send a counsellor to each other's capitals.
Fiji had expelled New Zealand's top diplomat in November, the third time in two years that Fiji sent home Wellington's top representative in Suva.
The expulsion in November was met by New Zealand sending home Fiji's high commissioner.
The interim regime in Suva is strongly opposed to the 2000 New Zealand policy of refusing entry visas to Fiji coupmakers and their associates.
