26 Aug 2010

NZ foreign minister meets Fiji counterpart in Suva

1:14 pm on 26 August 2010

Reports from Fiji say the interim foreign minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, has held talks with the New Zealand foreign minister, Murray McCully, in Suva.

The Fiji Sun says it was the first top level meeting between Ratu Inoke and a senior politician of a Pacific Islands Forum country since the Forum summit in Vanuatu earlier this month.

The meeting was not publicised.

It comes amid diplomatic tension between the two sides over the Fiji military regime's insistence to stay in power until at least 2014.

Meanwhile, a Commonwealth Special Envoy, Sir Paul Reeves, has met the interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama.

Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth and from the Forum after reneging on earlier promises to restore democracy.