Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama says Fiji's stance on the Pacific Islands Forum should not affect its relations with Australia and New Zealand.
In a speech in Fiji on Wednesday Mr Bainimarama said he would not attend any Forum leaders' meeting until their undue influence at the Forum was addressed.
Mr Bainimarama said Australia and New Zealand had been found wanting in global efforts to curb emissions and they weren't in tune with Pacific Islands like Fiji.
But he said Fiji continued to regard Australians and New Zealanders as friends despite grave disappointment at their stance on climate change.
"This is not some ill-considered position based on resentment against Australia and New Zealand for their punitive attitude towards our reform programme that produced the first genuine democracy in Fijian history. This is not me 'mouthing off', as the New Zealand Prime Minister so condescendingly put it."
Frank Bainimarama on the eve of his landslide victory in the 2014 elections, the first since his 2006 coup Photo: RNZI/Sally Round
