Fijian PM congratulates re-elected Tuvaluan PM

Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has congratulated his Tuvaluan counterpart Enele Sopoaga on his re-election as the head of government for Tuvalu, the Fijian government announced Monday.

Assuring Sopoaga of Fiji's "continued staunch friendship", Bainimarama said this friendship will continue to see Fiji stand with Tuvalu on the challenges it faces such as the impact of climate change, according to Fiji's Department of Information.

"Every Fijian joins me in wishing you and the members of your new government success as you carry out your agenda for the benefit of the people of Tuvalu and our mutual interests as Pacific neighbors," Bainimarama said in the message.

"We have had a long friendship as nations over many years and I look forward to working with you in the months and years ahead to strengthen that relationship and our bilateral ties," Bainimarama said, underscoring that the people of the two nations inhabit the same ocean and share the same destiny.

Sopoaga, who was in the last government completing the term of former Prime Minister Willie Telavi who resigned in August 2013, was sworn in last Friday as Tuvalu's prime minister for the next four years, after his landslide victory in the country's latest parliamentary election held late March.

Last October, Bainimarama and Sopoaga signed the Fiji-Tuvalu Maritime Boundary Treaty in Suva, settling the maritime boundary issue between the two neighbor countries after years of negotiations.