Interim Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama plans to visit New Zealand - subject to whether he is granted a visa, and how soon it is granted, he says. Fiji will go to the polls in September.
Fiji Prime Minister, Rear Admiral Frank Bainimarama, at Nasau Village, Wainibuka, 2014. Photo: Fiji Ministry of Information / Facebook
His announcement comes just months after New Zealand joined Australia in lifting all travel sanctions against Fiji.
The travel ban, against certain members of the governing regime and the military, has gradually been relaxed since the December 2006 coup.
Mr Bainimarama told Fiji's Radio Tarana he planned to visit New Zealand but it depended on whether the New Zealand Government granted him a visa, and when.
There had never been a better time to be a Fijian, ahead of their September elections, Mr Bainimarama said.
"There's never been a better time to be a smarter country, and there's never been a better time, really, to make Fiji that.
"It is the vision I stand for. I'm not trying to scare people, divide people, but doing everything to unite the nation."
