Rugby diplomacy brings hopes of thaw with Fiji

Commodore Frank Bainimarama. Photo / Greg Bowker

Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Fiji's military leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, have agreed "in principle" to meet next month amid further signs that renewed dialogue between Wellington and Suva is starting to bear significant fruit.

The talks in late March will take place in Hong Kong during the annual two-day rugby sevens tournament which both Mr McCully and Fiji's self-styled "interim Prime Minister" are scheduled to attend.

The move follows behind-the-scenes efforts by New Zealand to engage with the military regime through diplomacy which Mr McCully describes as "making progress in small steps".

The Foreign Minister revealed the prospect of discussions with Commodore Bainimarama in a ministerial statement he read to Parliament yesterday following his meetings last weekend with his Fijian counterpart, Ratu Inoke Kabuabola.

Both countries have also agreed to restore staffing in their respective diplomatic missions in Suva and Wellington back to the level of first secretary, following tit-for-tat expulsions of senior diplomats sparked by Fiji three months ago.

Mr McCully said the Government's first objective was to restore "diplomatic capacity" in Suva in order to be able to conduct meaningful dialogue and then try to resolve some of the significant and strongly held differences with Fiji.

"That will not happen tomorrow, but I do hope that it will happen over time."

Mr McCully, who is paying official visits to China and Hong Kong next month, stressed that engagement with the Bainimarama Administration did not signal a change in policy or a change in sanctions.

"Our commitment to democracy, the rule of law and human rights is undiminished."

But he had "hope" that as a result of the current dialogue, sanctions imposed on Fiji could change "at some point in the future".

He was at pains to emphasise that would require progress on 'important and difficult matters" over which the two countries disagree.

"We are making progress in small steps, but there will be challenges and no doubt the odd setback as we move forward."

Along with other South Pacific and Commonwealth nations, New Zealand and Australia have been trying to persuade Commodore Bainimarama, who seized power in a military coup in 2006, to restore democracy and set a date for elections earlier than the 2014 timetable he has so far indicated he is willing to accept.

Mr McCully has met Commodore Bainimarama before - in Suva in December 2008 shortly after becoming Foreign Minister.

His attempts then to break the stalemate over a return of the military to barracks and return to democracy foundered after New Zealand refused to give a visa to a relative of an official working for the interim Government.

New Zealand's High Commissioner was subsequently expelled from Fiji.