Trade Minister David Parker
is visiting Fiji this week, saying his focus will be on business and
trade and there was "scope to further deepen the economic ties between
our two countries".
In 2006, under former Prime Minister Helen Clark and then-Foreign Minister Winston Peters, New Zealand imposed a wide range of sanctions against Fiji in response to the military coup.
"We are putting in place a
wide range of measures which will affect high level contacts between the
two countries: immigration; defence and sports links; and development
assistance links of an inter-governmental character," Miss Clark said at
the time.
Sanctions were lifted incrementally, with the travel ban completely lifted
in 2014. Then Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said lifting the
sanctions would allow New Zealand "to throw our full weight behind
supporting Fiji’s return to democracy and normalise our relationship
with one of our closest neighbours".
Mr Parker said today he also
wanted to develop "deeper links" with the Fijian Government when he
meets with Fiji's Trade Minister Premila Kumar and Agriculture and
Environment Minister Mahendra Reddy in Suva and Nadi.
"Fiji is New Zealand's 19th
largest trading partner and there is scope to further deepen the
economic ties between our two countries.
"The visit will be an
opportunity to advance issues of economic importance and to support New
Zealand businesses in the Fiji market."
He is also hosting networking events with New Zealand business people travelling with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment