[hdvideo id=537]
Following the 44th Pacific Islands Forum in the Marshall Islands earlier this month, Forum leaders agreed that Fiji would be readmitted into the Forum after their elections, but Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has expressed that Fiji is not interested.
Bainimarama told New Zealand’s Radio Tarana that he isn’t interested in rejoining a group that according to him, is largely influenced by Australia and New Zealand.
He says Fiji is doing fine without PIF, adding that Fiji has got its own vehicle for engaging its Pacific neighbors through the newly established Pacific Islands Development Forum.
Bainimarama told Radio Tarana, “We are not interested in going back until (PIF) stops being the play thing for the Aussies and the Kiwi’s – when it becomes the genuine expression of the will of the Pacific Islanders themselves – then we will think about rejoining the Forum.”
Fiji was suspended from the Forum in 2007 following the military coup.