NZ, Fiji Hold 'Positive' Talks

NZ, Fiji Hold 'Positive' Talks
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=207195

By Mary Rauto

SUVA (The Fiji Times / Pacific Media Watch): Fiji and New Zealand have held talks to rebuild diplomatic relations.

Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola met his New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully yesterday.

NZ Prime Minister John Key was quoted by overseas media as saying McCully was in Fiji in his capacity as chair of the Pacific Islands Forum Ministerial Contact Group.

Ratu Inoke, who returned from the opening of Fiji's Embassy in Korea yesterday, went straight into a meeting with McCully.

He described the meeting as positive saying it would be etched in the history books of both countries.

He said New Zealand was ready to help Fiji with $0.5 million for the work of the Constitutional Commission.

Ratu Inoke said since Fiji was suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum in 2009, the nation's "Look North Plus" foreign policy had been revamped to establish ties with countries that understood Fiji's political and economic situation.

"However, with yesterday's meeting, I am optimistic that relations between Fiji and New Zealand are beginning to normalise, an added impetus towards good governance and democratic elections, all of which were central in Fiji's way forward," he said in a statement.

McCully also met with the Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Tuiloma Neoroni Slade.

He flew out of Fiji yesterday afternoon

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