New Zealand PM to visit Fiji

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is expected to make an official visit to Fiji next month, leading local newspaper Fiji Sun reported Wednesday.

Key is scheduled to be in Fiji on June 9 to 10 for a two-day official visit, on which a planning committee is understood to be working, the Fiji Sun said, quoting "an informed government source".

Key's visit will be a follow-up to Foreign Minister Murray McCully's visit in February in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Winston, which claimed 44 lives and left a path of massive destruction in Fiji.

In New Zealand, Key has signaled that more aid may be in the pipeline for Fiji.

"This will be a significant step forward in the relations between the countries. No New Zealand prime minister has made an official visit to Fiji since 2006," the newspaper commented.

"Diplomatic relations between New Zealand and Fiji soured after the 2006 takeover. Australia and New Zealand deserted Fiji and were instrumental in Fiji being suspended from Pacific Islands Forum," the paper continued.

Relations between Fiji and the two developed neighbors thawed after Voreqe Bainimarama's Fiji First party won the 2014 general election, in which Bainimarama was elected prime minister.

However, the situation was complicated when the Fjian prime minister did not attend the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Papua New Guinea last September.

Bainimarama has repeatedly said that he objects to Australia and New Zealand's "undue influence" -- which the two countries deny -- and said he believes Pacific Islands Forum no longer serves the best interests of Pacific islands, and that he would not attend the Pacific Islands Forum until Australia and New Zealand become development partners rather than full members.

Source: Xinhua