Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Commonwealth ministers to consider Fiji

Posted at 22:27 on 30 July, 2009 UTC

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meets in London tonight to take stock of developments in Fiji since it last met in March.

Fiji has been suspended from the Councils of the Commonwealth since the 2006 coup.

The country’s leaders have been warned that it will face suspension measures under the Commonwealth’s Millbrook Declaration if it failed to heed calls, made by Pacific Island Forum leaders earlier this year, to make progress towards a return to democracy.

Chris Bryant, the British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, says the both the Commonwealth and EU want to take strong, concerted action to ensure a return to democracy.

“That’s one of the things I think we need to talk about in the next few days. There’s the constant issue of how much should we engage directly with Bainimarama, how much should we be making sure that people from the government are able to travel, or not able to travel. These are issues that I want to be able to discuss with people from the region at the Pacific Islands Forum next week.”