9 Aug 2012

Foreign minister to represent Fiji at Non-Aligned Movement summit

6:08 pm on 9 August 2012

Fiji says the prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama won't be available to attend the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Iran in three weeks.

The foreign ministry in Suva says Fiji will instead be represented by its foreign minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, who will also attend the Movement's preceding foreign ministers' meeting.

Fiji became the Movement's 120th member in 2010 when Commodore Frank Bainimarama said Fiji wanted to develop relationships with countries outside the southern Pacific sphere.

Iran has invited all member countries, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are likely to meet on the margins of the summit.